Roger Pogoy buried the long jumper that broke the last deadlock of the game to lift the Texters after they wasted an early 16-point lead and saw the E-Painters ride the hot hands of James Yap that thrilled the fans at the packed Ynares Center.
As a result, the Texters finished the eliminations with back-to-back wins – and their eighth overall in 11 games – as they remained in contention for a top-two finish that stakes a twice-to-beat edge.
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Three of Yap’s output came from a three-point play that knotted the count for the eighth time at 101 with a little over a minute left, but that set the stage for Pogoy’s heroics on the other end, knocking down a supposed triple that was changed to a two-pointer after a review.
The Texters also turned to import Joshua Smith in keeping the E-Painters at bay as the burly TNT import registered 23 points and 12 boards in just 23 foul-plagued minutes.
The Final Scoreboard Result:
TNT 105 – Smith 23, De Ocampo 21, Rosario 11, Reyes 10, Pogoy 10, Tautuaa 9, Garcia 9, Rosales 5, Castro 3, Williams 3, Semerad 1, Carey 0
ROS 102 – Yap 23, Chan 18, Belga 13, Cruz 9, Crews 9, Ponferada 6, Trollano 6, Almazan 6, Washington 5, Tolomia 4, Ahanmisi 3, Norwood 0, Robles 0
Quarterscores: 22-16, 51-39, 78-71, 105-102