TNT cruised to a 142-87 win over Macau in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s comeback game with the Tropang 5G in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Hollis-Jefferson had 22 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in his return to TNT around 10 months since suffering an Achilles tear during a stint with Meralco in the EASL.
Jio Jalalon completed a triple double, finishing with 11 points, 13 assists, and 11 assists in the 55-point victory that improved the Tropang 5G's record to 7-4 win-loss.
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Calvin Oftana topscored for TNT with 28 points while shooting 5-of-7 from three-point range in a game where TNT led by as many as 61 points.
Hollis-Jefferson made his PBA return just in time for the final stretch of the eliminations. The Tropang 5G will play Converge on Sunday before going to the playoffs.
“That’s why we decided to ease them today in this game to prepare them for our last game which is Converge, but again, more importantly for the playoffs and for the quarterfinals,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.
Oscar Lopez had 43 points and 10 rebounds for the depleted Macau side which dropped to 2-9 in the penultimate game of a horror campaign for the foreign guest team.
The scores:
TNT 142 – Oftana 28, Hollis-Jefferson 22, Erram 15, Jalalon 11, Heading 11, Galinato 11, Aurin 10, Enciso 9, Nambatac 8, Ambohot 6, Pogoy 6, Varilla 5, Quitevis 0, Celzo 0, Castro 0.
Macau 87 – Lopez 43, Lao 14, Lam 13, Liu 4, Sun 4, Chen 3, Chao 2, Lu 2, Zhu 2, Zhang 0.
Quarters: 28-21; 64-40; 102-58; 142-87.
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