The Talk ‘N Text KaTropa made a come-from-behind victory to escape the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and takes a 1-0 series lead, 95-92.
TNT was down by eight points at the start of the fourth quarter after Ginebra had a scoring spree in the third period.
Yet, slowly but surely, the KaTropa decided to catch-up and at the 2:06 mark they were able to reclaim the lead behind the two free-throws of Troy Rosario.
Rosario had a stellar performance in tonight’s clash where he registered 24 points and 10 rebounds. 15 of those markers came from the three-point area where he shoots a fantastic 5-of-8 accuracy.
Rosario was later named as the Best Player of the Game.
In the final two minutes of the match, the lead of Talk ‘N Text increased to four points until Ginebra’s guard Stanley Pringle cut it to two after his layup, 91-93.
Then the Gin King had several chances to tie or even take back the driver seat but they failed to convert.
Ginebra’s import Justin Brownlee unable to take advantage of the long minutes’ official timeout break after he collided with Anthony Semerad as they both fighting for a loose ball.
Brownlee converted his first free-throw attempt but missed the second one. Yet, Scottie Thompson was there for the offensive rebound for another shot but still came unsuccessful.
The Barangay had one more chance to tie the game with only ten seconds remaining but the long-distance shot of Joe Devance couldn’t locate the bottom of the net.
TNT KaTropa is now ahead in their best-of-five series at 1-0. They’ll resume their semi-finals battle this coming Sunday, July 28 and will be played at the Big Dome.
Terrence Jones Gives TNT A Three-Point Lead
TNT KaTropa vs Ginebra Game 1 Semi-Finals Box Score
Quarters: 23-24 | 51-50 | 70-78 | 95-92
KaTropa (95) – Jones 24, Rosario 24, A. Semerad 17, Castro 13, Pogoy 10, Trollano 6, Heruela 2, Washington 0, Taha 0, Reyes 0, Magat 0
Gin Kings (92) – Brownlee 23, Pringle 18, Tenorio 18, Devance 11, Aguilar 8, Slaughter 7, Caguioa 7, Caperal 0, Mariano 0, Thompson 0, Teodoro 0