Castro helps coach Black make winning return with Talk ‘N Text

Jason Castro made sure that Norman Black’s return to PBA coaching would be something to remember.
Castro scored nine straight points in the most critical times Friday night, and led Talk ‘N Text to a 108-104 victory over rookie team Globalport that gave the Tropang Texters a share of the early PBA Philippine Cup lead at the Araneta Coliseum.
And his heroics allowed Black the luxury of a win in his comeback, albeit after sitting on pins and needles for a large chunk of the game the Texters were supposed to dominate.
The 6-foot Castro was connecting from afar and on penetrating plays, finishing with 30 points before Ranidel de Ocampo hit the insurance triple with 9.2 seconds left for the Texters’ second straight win and a tie with idle Barangay Ginebra.
Globalport, which played without superstar scorer Gary David, were ahead for the last time at 104-101 only to be kept scoreless in the final 3:41 by the porous Talk ‘N Text defense.
“It’s pretty much a work in progress for me,” Black, who last coached in the PBA in 2002 with Sta. Lucia, said. “There were a lot of miscommunication and broken plays in the offensive end.
“Our focus right now is to try and get as many wins as possible and get the blending down,” Black, who won the Grand Slam with San Miguel in 1989, added. “When that happens, we’ll be a much better team.” Black came into the game with a literal championship hangover after leading Ateneo to a historic fifth straight championship against the University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Thursday night.
He admitted that he was not about to call the shots for the Texters, but did so after the Batang Pier, which were supposed to be easy pickings if tournament rankings were to be believed, had made a game out of it despite trailing by 16 late in the third period.
In fact, it looked like Globalport was on the verge of authoring the first upset of the tournament, until Castro ran amuck.
“I had a long night,” Black said of the Ateneo championship party. “(But) the adrenaline flow (made me coach) and I wanted to have a hand with the team facing the possibility of losing.” Talk ‘N Text actually trailed, 98-102, with 4:42 left after rookie Vic Manuel converted on an off-balanced jumper.
Castro then nailed a three-pointer and after Willie Miller and Manuel made a charity each, the stocky Talk ‘N Text point guard hit four straight points coming off drives to shove the Texters ahead to stay, 105-104 with 2:42 left.
Manuel’s charity would turn out to be the last point for the Batang Pier in the game as the Talk ‘N Text defense stifled every Globalport gun in the stretch, before that De Ocampo triple with 9.2 seconds remaining rounded out scoring.
Miller went on to lead the Batang Pier with 22 points that came with nine assists and seven rebounds, while Manuel added 21.
In the nightcap, Rain or Shine got 35 points from Jeff Chan and escaped with a 99-98 overtime victory over Air21.
Jervy Cruz and Gabe Norwood added 12 points each for the Elasto Painters, who bounced back from a narrow loss to Barangay Ginebra to climb to 2-1.
The Express, who were led by John Wilson’s 21 points, dropped to 1-2.
Incidentally, the Gin Kings will be shooting for a third straight win Saturday by battling Meralco in a road game in Digos City in Davao del Sur.
LA Tenorio, the league’s first Player of the Week of the season, will again lead the Gin Kings over the Bolts in the only game scheduled at 6 p.m.