Talk ‘N Text got the “closure” it needed with Petron Blaze as it came away with a 96-86 win and tied Rain or Shine for the top spot of the 2011-12 PBA Philippine Cup Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The trio combined for 61 points and were responsible for giving Talk ‘N Text enough cushion to deal the Boosters their second straight loss after a 3-0 start.Meeting for the first time since losing in the epic seven-game series of the last season’s Governors’ Cup finals, the Tropang Texters played solid the whole game with Jared Dillinger, Ryan Reyes and Japeth Aguilar leading the way for the defending champions.
“I guess this is the closure we needed. Hopefully, it will propel us to move forward, move on and make another run this season,” said Tropnag Texters coach Chot Reyes.
“We got big production from JD, Ryan and Japeth but the second unit also gave us a lift,” he added.
Talk ‘N Text played minus Jimmy Alapag, Harvey Carey, Aaron Aban, and Ranidel de Ocampo due to injuries, but they were hardly missed as the Tropang Texters had another terrific start behind Aguilar’s 10 points and 9 rebounds in the opening period.
They led by as much as 17 points, the last at 60-43, and were still holding a 75-62 cushion going to the final quarter.
Joseph Yeo sparked an 11-5 exchange for the Boosters to cut the lead to 80-73. But that was the closest that Petron could get as Dillinger, Peek and Larry Fonacier joined forces for their own 11-6 salvo and put the game out of reach, 91-79, with 2:32 remaining in the game.
Alapag’s right foot is in a soft cast while Carey will be out for at least two more weeks. De Ocampo is still recuperating after an operation on his fractured nose.
“The other guys are stepping and that’s the story of this team. When someone goes down, other guys picked up the slack,” said Reyes.
Rookie Chris Lutz and Arwind Santos each had 20 points for Petron while Alex Cabagnot and Danny Ildefonso contributed 16 and 10 markers respectively.
Denok Miranda missed the game for the Boosters because of stomach flu.
The scores:
TALK N’ TEXT 96 – Dillinger 21, Reyes 21, Aguilar 20, Peek 12, Williams 8, Castro 7, Fonacier 7, Raymundo 0, Oreta 0, Lao 0.
PETRON 86 – Lutz 20, Santos 20, Cabagnot 16, Ildefonso 10, Yeo 8, Baclao 6, Sharma 4, Guevarra 2, Agustin 0, Reyes 0.
Quarterscores: 29-20, 48-36, 75-62, 96-86
Source: http://www.interaksyon.com
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