TNT dethrones Ginebra in Philippine Cup quarterfinals

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The champs are out.

TNT Tropang Giga’s magical season continues as they exact their revenge on the Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel after blowing them out in Game 1 of their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals showdown, 84-71, and ended their reign as the defending champions.

Enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage, the Tropang Giga squad wasted no time and had no plans in extending the series as they shut down the injury-plagued Ginebra team and prevented another “never-say-die” comeback.

It was Ginebra who actually dictated the pace in the first quarter of the game as LA Tenorio and Christian Standhardinger were off to a great start offensively.

On the other hand, the Tropang Giga had wide-open looks in the three-point line but failed to convert on most of their attempts.

As the second quarter began, TNT’s head coach Chot Reyes revamped their attack and instead of settling for the three-pointers, Mikey Williams and Jayson Castro attacked the basket and created more opportunities for their offense.

TNT outscored Ginebra in the second quarter, 22-12, and continued their momentum in the second half.

Without the presence of Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar, Ginebra found it difficult to get easy baskets in the last 24 minutes of the ball game as coach Reyes’ defensive guard rotation of Negrense Kib Montalbo and Brian Heruela paid off huge as they did a tremendous job slowing down Stanley Pringle and Tenorio.

RR Pogoy led the TNT attack with 16 huge points backstopped by Troy Rosario with 15 points and Williams with 11.