SINGAPORE: Chot Reyes now has faith in his team.
Talk ‘N Text put together two formidable runs in the second half to hammer out an 85-80 victory over San Miguel that gave the Tropang Texters a share of third place in the Philippine Cup before a very appreciative Filipino crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium here.
“I told my players (before the game) that what makes a good team is the ability to string together big games,” Reyes told reporters shortly after the victory. “The standings are not the only thing that’s important.”
Reyes was referring to a 104-82 demolition job of Sta. Lucia two days before flying over to this bustling island. And he talked that way because three days before the win over the Realtors, his crew got blown off the floor by 26 points by Alaska .
“At this point (of the tournament), we are very happy at where we are,” Reyes added after rising to 7-6 and climbing within half-a-game of the second-running Beermen, who dropped to 8-6 but still kept solo hold of second spot.
The final three weeks of the elimination round will be crucial, since the top two teams will earn automatic semifinal berths with the next three to advance outright into the quarterfinals.
Making up the wildcard phase would be the next four squads, with only one to advance to join the three in the quarterfinal phase. Only one team will get the boot after the double round eliminations.
As it is, the race for those berths is considered wide open, with only Red Bull seemingly with very little chance of catching up at 3-9. The league-leading Aces are at 9-4, just two full games ahead of the Texters, idle Sta. Lucia and Rain or Shine.
Purefoods is also in the thick of the picture, especially after repeating over Air21, 96-88, in an out-of-town game in Tacloban City Saturday night. Kerby Raymundo scored 27 points, James Yap tossed in 26 and Enrico Villanueva piled up 23 to complete a three-sided blade the slit that collective throats of the Express and put Purefoods at an even 7-7 card.
The Express lost for the second straight night and dropped to 6-7, now in solo eighth place.
Talk ‘N Text lost its first meeting with San Miguel, 77-84 due mainly to a staggering 53-83 deficit off the boards. The deficit in that department was just 54-62 last night, and the Texters were able to hit the big shots when they needed to.
The backcourt duo of Jimmy Alapag and Jared Dillinger did the most damage even with Alapag needing to take a short breather midway in the fourth quarter after suffering a slightly-twisted left ankle.
Alapag still wound up with 20 points, including three three-pointers that sparked a decisive 14-3 break from the game’s last deadlock at 59.
His final trey came at the 5:14 mark, and this sparked a run of nine straight points that turned a 64-62 lead into a 73-62 bubble.
The 6-foot-5 Dillinger, who alternated with the 5-foot-8 Alapag in quarterbacking the Talk ‘N Text offense, dropped 10 of his 17 points in the fourth period, including six free throws inside the last 55 seconds that kept San Miguel within arm’s length.
Mac-Mac Cardona also had 17 points, Ren-Ren Ritualo 16 and Harvey Carey eight points but a team-high 18 rebounds aside from providing an intimidating presence inside the paint.
Lordy Tugade’s 20 points pace San Miguel, which also drew 17 from Mick Pennisi off the bench and 12 points and a night-high 19 rebounds from Jay Washington.
What did San Miguel in was an atrocious 1-of-15 shooting from the field and eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the third period that enabled the Texters to turn a 37-40 deficit into a 53-42 lead.
