The TNT Tropang 5G overcame a slow start and showed great poise in the closing stretch to take a 100-95 win over the Meralco Bolts in Game 1 of their PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinal series on Sunday, January 4, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Meralco led by as much as 21 points in the first half, but their performance plummeted in the fourth quarter, when TNT seized control.
Calvin Oftana starred for TNT, draining the go-ahead jumper with under three minutes to play en route to 28 points and seven rebounds.
The result gave TNT a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.
CJ Cansino sparked Meralco’s strong start, scoring 13 points in the first quarter.
However, the former University of the Philippines standout was held scoreless in the final frame.
“At halftime, we just challenged the players to defend one-on-one. I think in the first half, we were relying too much on our help defense. And Meralco did a really good job picking it apart. Credit to them,” TNT head coach Chot Reyes said during the post-game press conference.
Reyes took responsibility for the team’s slow start where they gave up 62 points in the first half.
“That’s on me because we prepared a game plan that they picked apart. The players were simply following and executing the defensive game plan that we prepared. We had to make sure we [made] the right adjustments at halftime. ‘Yun na nga [ang] nangyari,” he said.
It was a tightly contested final frame, before back-to-back baskets from Oftana and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser gave TNT a 96-91 cushion with 2:33 to play.
“I’m happy [with] the way we played in the second half, ‘yung depensa namin. Wake-up call ‘yung 62 points [na lamang ng Meralco]. Bihira ‘yun ah. Sinusunod lang namin coach namin. Happy for the team na nanalo. Mahaba pa ‘yung series. We’ll be ready for Game 2,” Oftana said.
Three other Tropang 5G players tallied double digits: Rey Nambatac added 17 markers, RR Pogoy had 16 points, while Rosser chipped in 14 markers.
Chris Banchero tried to spark a run for the Bolts, ending with 16 points off six out of 11 field goal shooting.
Cansino finished with 14 points, while Raymond Almazan and Chris Newsome had 13 markers each.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 semifinals series will be on Wednesday, January 7, at the Araneta Coliseum.
“Hopefully, in Game 2, we are more ready to play from the start, because I don’t think we can bring this kind of game and expect to come up with the same kind of result. We have to definitely be better,” Reyes said. (ABS-CBN News)