The Talk n Text reserves came out and outfought James Yap and his B-MEG Derby Ace teammates in the last three quarters, carrying the Tropang Texters to the threshold of a return stint in the PBA Philippine Cup finals at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night. Jason Castro tied a career-best output of 22 points and the whole TnT bench outscored its Derby Ace counterpart, 68-11, as the Texters drubbed the Llamados, 97-83, for the 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven semifinals showdown.
The Texters, looking for a fourth all-Filipino conference finals, go for the series clincher in
Game Six Friday in the same venue.
“All season long, our second group has been giving us tremendous help. Tonight, they were there helping us battle and outlast Derby Ace,” said TnT coach Chot Reyes.
“We took a big gamble putting in Kelly (Williams) on James (Yap). Kelly got into foul-trouble
situation early but we felt we needed to give James a hard time at the start and hopefully run out of steam,” Reyes added.
“I think that happened. The important thing was that we stayed calm. When they started to miss, we found the opening.”
Castro, Ali Peek, Larry Fonacier and Ranidel de Ocampo came off the bench and gave the Llamados crucial beating in the last three quarters.
Castro went 8-of-13 from the field and 6-of-7 from the stripe in tying his career-best output while Peek logged double-double numbers with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Fonacier and De Ocampo tossed in 13 points apiece with Ryan Reyes the lone starter finishing in double figures with 10.
“May mga absent pa rin. Pero ang importante talaga we stayed calm and stayed believing in
ourselves. There’s no big adjustment. We just waited for them to miss,” said Reyes.
Castro delivered nine points, one rebound and one assist in the second period, starring in a
counter-assault that carried Talk n Text to a 51-48 lead at the half.
The Llamados took the opening quarter at 31-20 but the Texters turned the tide in their favor in
the second period, getting the three-point halftime edge on a three-pointer by Fonacier with five
ticks left.
The TnT reserves outscored their Derby Ace counterparts, 36-8, in the first 24 minutes of play.
The Llamados got off to a strong start, building an early double-digit spread at 18-8 and leading
by as many as 16, 30-14, in the opening canto.
Derby Ace, however, couldn't keep up with only its first stringers putting up numbers.
Starters James Yap, Jonas Villanueva, PJ Simon, Nino Canaleta and Marc Pingris scored all but 11 of the team's output. (SB)
The scores:
Talk N' Text 97 - Castro 22, Peek 16, Fonacier 13, De Ocampo 13, Reyes 10, Carey 9, Alapag 8,
Dillinger 2, Aban 2, Alvarez 2, Williams 0.
B-Meg Derby Ace 83 - Yap J. 24, Villanueva 15, Simon 13, Canaleta 12, Pingris 8, Gaco 3, Timberlake
2, Maierhofer 2, Salvador 2, Yap R. 2, Allado 0.
Quarters: 20-31, 51-48, 73-69, 97-83