The TNT Tropang 5G drew first blood in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup finals — but only after surviving a gritty fightback by the San Miguel Beermen.
The Grand Slam-seeking squad inched closer to their goal after escaping with a slim — and controversial — 99-96 win over San Miguel in their Game 1 faceoff on Sunday, July 13, at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
RR Pogoy led TNT’s charge with 23 points on 63.6 percent efficiency, Jordan Heading provided firepower with 19 markers together with six dimes, while Calvin Oftana and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser scored 13 markers each.
“We expected it. We had no illusions that San Miguel would just slow down, so we kept talking to our players about it,” acknowledged TNT head coach Chot Reyes after the Beermen erased a 24-point deficit and very nearly snatched the win in the closing minutes.
“We told our players to relax and stay calm, and good thing, we had composure in the end,” he added.
Despite already leading 92-74 early in the fourth, TNT saw their advantage disappear after San Miguel Beer went on a massive 19-0 run which was capped off by a June Mar Fajardo jumper at the 2:11 mark for a 93-92 lead.
Ganuelas-Rosser ended the Tropang 5G’s scoring drought with a dunk at the 1:53 mark to retake the lead, but Chris Ross answered with a triple just eight seconds later for a 96-94 cushion.
Pogoy, however, wouldn’t just let Game 1 slip away as the Cebuano ace retaliated with his own triple with still a minute and four seconds left, but Tautuaa came back with a dunk on their next play for a 98-97 lead.
Unfortunately for the Beermen, Tautuaa’s dunk with only 56 was deemed as a basket interference, and this resulted in his two points being taken back and TNT to still sit at a 97-96 lead with only 13 seconds left.
Oftana then went on to ice his foul shots with only four seconds left after being fouled by Don Trollano, and while this gave the Beermen another shot to tie or win the contest, CJ Perez went on to miss his three-pointer at the buzzer.
San Miguel has since made their feelings known about the controversial call, with head coach Leo Austria lamenting that his players’ efforts were overshadowed by the referees’ decision.
Fajardo led San Miguel with a 26-point, 15-rebound double-double on top of two each of steals and blocks, while Perez backstopped him with 19 markers and 11 boards.
Game 2 of the Best-of-7 series is on Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m., still at the Big Dome. (ABS-CBN News)
TNT 99 — Pogoy 23, Heading 19, Oftana 13, Ganuelas-Rosser 13, Williams 9, Erram 9, Enciso 6, Khobuntin 5, Heruela 2, Aurin 0.
SAN MIGUEL 96 — Fajardo 26, Perez 19, Trollano 13, Tautuaa 10, Cruc 8, Ross 7, Lassiter 7, Tiongson 4, Brondial 2, Teng 0, Rosales 0.
Quarterscores: 28-22, 61-41, 85-66, 99-96.