To a point, it succeeded. But that wasn’t the reason why the Tropang Texters came away with their second straight win.
Harvey Carey poured in the second-highest output in his eight-year career, and Talk ‘N Text shook Rain or Shine off in the fourth quarter to score a 107-98 victory and grab a piece of the PBA Philippine Cup lead Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
The defending champions’ reliable reserve forward scattered 28 points – two shy of his career-high he established during the 2005-06 season – and pulled down 14 rebounds as Texters secured their second win in as many outings despite missing the services of Jimmy Alapag, Ranidel de Ocampo and Kelly Williams.
The three superstars all took a three-game respite after reinforcing Smart-Gilas in the FIBA-Asia Championships in China last month.
“We’re just fortunate we had a scoring break from Harvey who we never ran a single play for,” said Tropang Texters’ coach Chot Reyes. “That was the difference today.” “I just played my role,” said Carey after the game.
Ryan Reyes added 19 points – 13 coming in the second half – and Jayson Castro contributed 18 points and 10 assists for Talk ‘N Text, which tied idle Petron at the top of the standings while dealing the Elasto Painters their first defeat in three games.
While Talk ‘N Text’s win didn’t come much of a surprise, the result in the second game featuring crowd-favorite Ginebra and Barako Bull did.
The Energy Boosters banked on rookies’ Dylan Ababou and Allein Maliksi and got the separation in the third quarter to cruise to an 88-75 triumph over the Kings.
Ababou, playing in his first game after being benched in Barako Bull’s 95-83 defeat to Petron last Oct. 7, scattered 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting while Maliksi, the MVP in the maiden edition of the PBA D-League last season, contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.
“I didn’t field Dylan in our game against Petron because I felt he hasn’t gotten the feel of our system yet,” said Boosters’ coach Junel Baculi. “I was surprised a bit tonight. He over-achieved. I just hope that he can continue playing like that even if he gets the attention on defense.” While Ababou collected the output that stood as the team best, Maliksi hit form that energized the ball club.
Maliksi had nine points in the third quarter, and Barako Bull outscored Ginebra in the stretch, 28-16, for a 70-54 lead after just leading by 42-38 at halftime. Ginebra came no closer than 70-58.
Mark Caguioa paced Ginebra with 22 points and Rob Labagala added 12 – the only players who scored in double figures for the Kings, who dropped to a 1-2 (win-loss) record.
The victory was made even more special for Barako Bull when Willie Miller, the two-time MVP Ginebra traded to the Boosters, became the 24th player to join the 2,000 assists club.
Rain or Shine came into the game knowing fully well the tough trial at hand, but was held powerless at the way Carvey exerted an offensive game, and failed to draw much from Lee in the second half.
Lee, the No. 2 pick in the August Draft and regarded by Reyes and Painters’ coach Yeng Guiao as the best rookie so far, only took four attempts in the second half after scoring 11 points in the first. He ended up with 17 points and for the third time led the franchise in scoring this season on 5-of-12 shooting from the field.
“We wanted to make sure there was an extra guy coming in for him (Lee),” Reyes said. “We made the necessary preparations against him but he still scored 17 points. That tells you how special a player he is.” Beau Belga added 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Gabe Norwood collected 12 points and seven boards for Rain or Shine.
“We’re basically limping along,” Reyes said. “But guys coming off the bench are giving us a lot of contribution. We just need to play better against the stronger teams. In the end, we managed to scrape out a victory.” Talk ‘N Text was only ahead by 79-76 before it found an opening to break the game wide open. The Texters unleashed a 14-5 blast capped by a three-point shot by Castro to take a 93-81 lead, before claiming their largest lead at 99-85 with 2:43 left to play.
