THE moment they realized that they're not the TNT team of old, the Tropang 5G rediscovered a big fighting heart and finally found a way to pull off a "W" Sunday against the league's biggest giant at that.
"The simple realization worked wonders," said TNT coach Chot Reyes after they checked their skid with an 89-84 reversal of the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.
"We're a different team minus Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jayson Castro. We played the game with who we have. And the way they played, the way they brought the effort allowed us to nail our first win," Reyes pointed out.
"We said 'let's write our own story.' Hopefully this is the first step, and this is first chapter in that story."
Calvin Oftana scored 23 points and pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds in a rare 20-20 game complemented well by Rey Nambatac, RR Pogoy, Simon Enciso and Kelly Williams as the Tropang 5G ended their fumbling 0-3 start in the all-Filipino tourney.
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"It's just yesterday sa huddle namin, pinagusapan naming na we just show up. Yun yung bagay na wala sa amin in our past three games," said Oftana.
The 6-foot-5 gunner wrote on their board in a huddle Saturday "rebounding" as something he might add as his contribution. And he got aplenty, including two crucial defensive boards at endgame that helped them seal the win and send SMB to a second loss in five starts.
The Tropang 5G endured a battle with the Beermen, losing an 11-point lead but recovering in time, with Enciso and Pogoy delivering the daggers on back-to-back treys inside the final minute.
An SMB discard, Enciso drilled in three treys in all and finished with 13 markers plus four assists and two rebounds, without committing a single error.
Pogoy, Williams, Nambatac and Glenn Khobuntin had their own connections from downtown. And better shooting, more fastbreak points, assists and perimeter baskets spelled big difference for TNT as they hit the win-column after losses to NLEX, Converge then Phoenix.
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CJ Perez top scored with 26 points while June Mar Fajardo came through with 21 markers and 14 rebounds for the losing side. (SB)
The scores:
TNT 89 - Oftana 23, Nambatac 15, Pogoy 14, Enciso 13, Williams 12, Khobuntin 8, Erram 4, Heruela 0, Razon 0, Aurin 0.
San Miguel 84 - Perez 26, Fajardo 21, Tiongson 15, Lassiter 14, Cruz 6, Brondial 2, Tautuaa 0, Teng 0, Ross 0, Trollano 0, Rosales 0, Cahilig 0.
Quarterscores: 26-26, 44-39, 71-62, 89-84
