With four of its Gilas Pilipinas mainstays watching from the stands and two other stars out, it’s hard to imagine Talk ‘N Text engaging anyone in a shootout – and harder still to fathom – winning one.

Import Tony Mitchell scattered 48 points and new acquisition Sean Anthony chipped in with 23 as the Tropang Texters clipped Barako Bull, 118-113 in overtime on Friday night for a share of the early PBA Governors’ Cup lead at the Araneta Coliseum.

Mitchell, who saw action in the latter stages of a Final Four loss to Barangay Ginebra in the Commissioner’s Cup almost three months ago, hit eight of his total in the extra five minutes to eventually give the short-handed Texters a good start in the season-ending tournament.

Anthony was a revelation in his first game with the Texters, showing the willingness to have the ball in his hands at crunch time.

He drilled a three-pointer from about 25 feet with 2:34 left that made it 108-104, before baskets by Ryan Reyes and Mitchell sealed the outcome for the Texters.

“We were missing a lot of key players, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Black, obviously relieved, told reporters later. “I thought we needed to play good defense to win, and it turned into a shootout.”

In the nightcap, a Meralco crew that was missing Mac Cardona rallied in the third quarter to post an 89-83 victory over Petron Blaze, officially the conference’s first upset.

Mario West, who arrived just two days before after Meralco’s original import was measured to be a quarter-of-an-inch over the 6-foot-5 height limit, scored 23 points, had 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals in a sterling 38-minute effort.

Reynel Hugnatan played 32 minutes at center and chipped in with 20 markers and Chris Ross and Sunday Salvacion had 14 and 13, respectively.

“It’s a nice way to start the conference after a lot of apprehensions,” Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio said. “Everything panned out the right way against mighty Petron.”

Cardona is out with a foot injury and is expected to return to action on the third week of next month at the earliest, together with new acquisition Jared Dillinger.

Elijah Millsap paced the Boosters with 24 points and 12 rebounds, with Arwind Santos and national player June Mar Fajardo also completing double-doubles.

Larry Fonacier, Jason Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo were granted leaves by management after helping the Philippine Five to a silver medal finish – and into next year’s World Championship – in the recent 27th Fiba-Asia Championship.

Harvey Carey was also not in the roster after flying back home to the United States to get married. Alapag used his free time to join him there and be Carey’s best man and both are expected to come back in the first week of September at the earliest.

Kelly Williams, the former MVP with Sta. Lucia, is on a medical leave and Black is still unsure of his return.

“Actually, management is just giving them (Gilas players) what was promised them, and that is a month off,” Black said. “That would be about nine games (that they will be) out for us. But some of them have said they will come back earlier.”

Talk ‘N Text actually trailed by as large as 16 points early in the third period, before a 21-0 run had the Texters turning a 54-70 deficit into a 75-70 lead.

That run tied the seventh longest all-time in the league, which also equalled the franchise mark for the Texters, who, ironically enough, also pulled off the feat in 2009 in a 93-90 win over the same Barako Bull squad.

Michael Singletary debuted in style for the Energy, shooting 26 points in the first half alone as Barako Bull played with a lot of control.

But Singletary might have spent himself, as he battled cramps on both legs in the stretch and this told heavily in Barako Bull’s chances of winning.

Singletary finished with 41 points, 21 rebounds and four assists, with Mark Macapagal shooting 24 built around six triples.

Anthony, who was acquired in a three-team trade that included Jarred Dillinger, who is now with Meralco, finished with 23 points, 15 of them coming from beyond the arc.

Ryan Reyes and Jai Reyes had 19 and 11 points, respectively, for the Texters. Anthony also had five steals.

Meanwhile, defending champion Rain or Shine and Globalport slug it out for the early lead today when action goes to the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

After winning their conference debuts on Wednesday, the Elasto Painters and the Batang Pier will be back in action starting at 3:45 p.m. even as San Mig Coffee and Air21, the squads that lost in the inaugurals, take to the floor at 6 p.m.