TNT KaTropa rallied from 13 points in the final four minutes to dethrone Magnolia 98-97 and advance to the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ray Parks Jr. hit two free throws to put the KaTropa up with 7.0 seconds remaining before the rest of the team made key stops to produce a stunning quarterfinal victory and set up a best-of-five semifinal duel with the Meralco Bolts.
Meralco punched the first tickets for the semis set to start after the 30th Southeast Asian Games following Sunday’s victory over Alaska.
Jayson Castro scored 30 points in just his second game back from an ankle injury while KJ McDaniels had 25 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks, including one that denied Magnolia import Romeo Travis a go-ahead basket in the final seconds.
McDaniels swatted Travis’ layup before the ball going out of bounds with 1.1 ticks remaining. Mark Barroca tried to set up Travis for a catch-and-shoot play but the ball sailed past the hands of the Hotshots import as time expired.
The KaTropa looked as if they were on the brink of being pushed to a do-or-die match on Wednesday when they went up 94-81 on a Chris Banchero layup with 4:22 remaining in the fourth.
But TNT responded with a 15-2 blast, ending on a Troy Rosario triple with 32.7 seconds to go. Magnolia took the lead back with a split by Travis from the foul line, 15.9 to go.
Castro missed a running shot but Parks got the rebound before getting fouled by Reavis to set up the winning free throws.
The scores:
TNT KATROPA 98 — Castro 30, McDaniels 25, Rosario 12, Reyes 10, Pogoy 8, Parks 7, Digregorio 6, Williams 0.
MAGNOLIA 97 — Travis 32, Dela Rosa 13, Jalalon 12, Lee 11, Barroca 9, Banchero 8, Sangalang 7, Pingris 4, Melton 1, Reavis 0.
Quarters: 22-26; 48-54; 68-80; 98-97.
No comments