MANILA: With the last of his eight assists, Jason Castro finally put the enemy away after missing the attempts that would have done the job.
After shooting 37 points and time and again failing to buy the bucket that would have sealed the deal, Castro found Ranidel De Ocampo for the marginal basket with 5.7 seconds remaining on Wednesday night for a 122-120 TNT KaTropa win over GlobalPort in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
It was a great escape act for the Texters, who blew a 24-point second quarter lead and spent the entire second half fending off repeated rallies by the Batang Pier.
And after Jay Washington failed to handle a Stanley Pringle crosscourt pass with 2.2 ticks remaining in GlobalPort’s potential game-tying play, the Texters escaped with their seventh win in eight games and practically booked a top four finish and a twice-to-beat privilege in the first round of the playoffs.
After opening up a 42-18 lead with an 18-0 blast connecting the first and second quarters, the Texters went on to shoot 70 points at the half and took an 18-point lead into the third quarter.
But GlobalPort fought its hardest from there, refusing to just roll over and die and giving the Texters all they could handle in the endgame.
“We went into a lull in offense in the latter part,” Texters’ coach Jong Uichico told scribes. “We needed this win anyway and anyhow (we can get it). We will move on to the next (game).”
Castro drained a total of six triples, with the last of those coming with 3:14 remaining for a 120-109 lead that made it look like the Texters were safely on their way home.
But Terrence Romeo answered with one of his own and touched off an 11-0 salvo that tied it all up with 41.7 seconds remaining.
With a medley of misses, including two from Castro, the Batang Pier found themselves back in the game, only to fall short in the end and see an end to a three-game winning streak that put them at 3-5 overall.
That also means that GlobalPort is out of the running for a top four finish and a twice-to-beat privilege as the Batang Pier barely stayed inside the magic circle of eight teams that would make the playoffs if it were to start tomorrow.
De Ocampo finished with 17 points, Ryan Reyes had 11 and Larry Fonacier and Michael Madanly came off the bench to combine for 25 to make up for the lethargic offensive night that import Mychal Ammons had.
Ammons, playing in just his fourth game after replacing Mario Little, shot just seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds after being saddled with fouls for most of the game.
Mike Glover came up with his best game for the Batang Pier, shooting 38 points and grabbing 18 rebounds, with Romeo finishing with 33 and Pringle 25 to make for GlobalPort’s three-headed monster for the night.
But their efforts fell just a tad short and the Batang Pier will be spending the rest of the elimination round trying to pile up wins just to make sure that they make it past this phase.
In the nightcap, San Miguel Beer paraded temporary import replacement for the injured AZ Reid, Mike Singletary, as it brought down Meralco 110-106.
Meanwhile, Rain or Shine has come to terms with Jason Forte to take the place of Dior Lowhorn for its last four games in the elimination round.
Down in the bottom half of the standings with a 3-4 card, the Elasto Painters still have an outside shot at making it to the top four with a sweep of their remaining assignments.
Forte, who played for Alaska and Air21 before, will be arriving on Thursday and will have just one practice with the Painters before they clash with surprising Mahindra on Friday night.
The bull-strong 32-year-old was actually the second choice of the Painters to replace Lowhorn after Greg Smith, who played US NCAA ball with Colorado State, failed to pass the height test of 6-foot-5.
Castro sets up TNT KaTropa's victory over GlobalPort
Castro sets up TNT KaTropa's victory over GlobalPort
