That’s precisely what the San Miguel Beermen got sucked into as the Tropang Texters ran away with a 92-81 victory last Saturday at the start of their PBA Philippine Cup championship series at the jampacked Victorias Sports and Amusement Center in Victorias City.

"Ang tumalo sa amin ay ‘yung sarili namin," said coach Ato Agustin, whose charges blew as much as a nine-point lead after committing 17 turnovers, majority of them in key stretches of the game watched by an overflow crowd of 8,000.

"Sayang talaga," added Agustin. "Nawala ‘yung gameplan namin sa fourth quarter. Suddenly, one-on-one, tira sa labas ang pinaggagawa."

The Texters applied pressure defense throughout and physically wore down the Beermen in a match that turned testy at times.

"We didn’t panic," Texters coach Chot Reyes pointed out. "We stayed patient, we stuck to our defense. In the fourth quarter bumigay na sila."

The Beermen’s downfall was presaged by the cramps that stymied their top forwards in the second half. Jay Washington already had nine points at the half but was limited to five the rest of the way while Arwind Santos was held to only two of his 13 points in the decisive period.

"It has never happened to me before," related Washington. "Four to five minutes into the third quarter I started feeling it. I think it was just because how hot it was. I was feeling good, prepared to go for 30 (minutes). It started in my right hamstring and then it moved to the left. Not long after, my whole back thigh was aching. There’s not a whole lot I can do. It’s frustrating."

"Those are part of the game and we just have to capitalize on it," Reyes said.

Offense was not a problem for TNT and it got additional spark from a player who should have been emotionally drained since he, according to Reyes, "was crying from Manila all the way to here (Bacolod)."

Seemingly drawing inspiration from guard Ryan Reyes, whose brother Allan Raymund died in a car accident in Los Angeles, California, just last Wednesday, TNT scored the first 10 points of the fourth period en route to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven duel.

Jason Castro came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points for TNT, which also drew at least points each from Reyes, Jared Dillinger and Harvey Carey. Ali Peek chipped in nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Castro and SMB’s Paul Artadi were slapped a technical foul each for second motions near mid-court with 7:59 remaining in the second period.

Castro’s defensive work on Alex Cabagnot drew special mention from Agustin.

"Ang magandang ginawa ng Talk N Text ay ‘yung press nila, especially against Alex. Pagdating ni Alex sa frontcourt, 12 seconds na lang, one pass, tira na ng teammate niya," noted Agustin. "Sabi ko na nga ba before the start ng series kay Jason Castro kami mag-ka-ka-problema.

"Titingnan namin kung ano ang gagawin kay Jason Castro. Sabi ko nga sa staff at players ko kailangan nating gumawa ng paraan diyan.’"

Noli Cortez, Business Malaya Insight