Talk ‘N Text stays immaculate after Meralco drubbing

Jane Bracher

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Not even Brian Butch's intensity and three-pointers from the parking lot were enough to keep the Meralco Bolts afloat against the stingy defense of the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters on Friday

BLURRED LINES. Talk N Text's Jayson Castro drives to the basket en route to their fifth straight win. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

MANILA, Philippines – Not even Brian Butch’s intensity and three-pointers from the parking lot were enough to keep the Meralco Bolts afloat against the stingy defense of the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters on Friday afternoon, March 21 at the Cuneta Astrodome. 

Talk ‘N Text shut the doors on Meralco’s offense to pummel them with a 91-68 win and in the process maintain their win-loss card squeaky clean at 5-0 in the PLDT myDSL Commissioner’s Cup. 

“I thought today was an example of a very good defensive effort on our part,” explained head coach Norman Black. “Our defensive game plan was a little bit complicated going into this game because of the talent of Brian Butch, because of the fact that he’s an outside shooter and he’s not really a power player.”

The Bolts zoomed to an early 9-2 lead on some aggression from Anjo Caram and a pair of very long range off-the-glass bombs from Butch. Meralco had the right idea in the early goings of the first by trying to set the tone of the game with aggressiveness. 

But that 9-2 lead was all they wrote as Talk ‘N Text came storming back before the Bolts could even capitalize on the latter’s slow start, ending the first canto on top at 28-24. 

The second period was even worse for Meralco as they never scored again from the 5:28 mark all the way to halftime, with the Texters keeping their prey right where they want them with just a measly 9-point second frame output. The Texters led 43-33 at the break. 

But the defense-oriented team of Black was not done yet. 

Harvey Carey got on a roll in the third and scored 9 of his 11 points to help Talk ‘N Text build a 68-49 edge heading to the fourth, where it was simply cruise control for the lone team at the top of the standings. 

“If it’s one thing I’m really happy with this conference so far is the fact that we are not really shooting the basketball that well from the field but we’re still winning games with our defense,” Black remarked.  

Meralco heaved triples in the fourth to try and overturn the biggest lead of the game, a 24-point deficit, 79-55, with 8:01 left after a very convincing Jayson Castro fake and fly by drive to the hoop for the two points. Too bad for them Talk ‘N Text also caught fire from that distance with 8 triples all game long. 

Second chance points, 23-15, resulting from a 61-50 Talk ‘N Text advantage on the boards killed Meralco as well. 

The disparity in field goal percentages (41.7% for Talk ‘N Text and 31.5% for Meralco) also seemed to make the loss all but inevitable for the Bolts, who now sport a 2-2 slate. 

Balanced scoring was also the name of the game for the Tropang Texters with Ranidel de Ocampo leading their team with 15 points. 

Richard Howell contributed 13 markers and 22 boards as well. 

“Good team effort on our part,” Black noted. “We had a lot of balance offensively.”

Meralco’s offense, on the other hand, was carried by import Butch with his 16 points and 20 boards. John Wilson and Gary David added 11 and 8 points, respectively. 

With a 5-0 slate, some would say Talk ‘N Text might be peaking too early, much like the San Miguel Beermen (then Petron Blaze Boosters) or Barangay Ginebra during the previous Philippine Cup.  

But Black believes this shorter conference, with just a single round robin for eliminations, means it is a sprint and not a marathon. He’s also not concerned about too early wins. 

“If you look at our schedule, it’s important for us to try and get as many wins as possible because of the way the way the schedules are set up and also allow us to have 8 days off at the end of the elimination round,” Black explained. “So whatever success we’re having now we want to continue to have that success.” 

Scores: 

Talk ‘N Text 91: De Ocampo 15, Castro 14, Fonacier 14, Howell 13, Carey 11, Canaleta 9, Williams 7, Salamat 2, Baclao 2, Alapag 2, Reyes Ro. 1, Reyes Ry. 1, Aban 0, Reyes J. 0.

Meralco 68: Butch 16, Wilson 11, David 8, Caram 5, Hugnatan 5, Mandani 5, Ildefonso 4, Hodge 4, Salvacion 3, Dillinger 3, Al-Hussaini 2, Guevarra 2, Bringas 0.

Quarter scores: 28-24, 43-33, 68-49, 91-68. 

– Rappler.com

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