MANILA, Philippines – The GlobalPort Batang Pier built a huge lead enough to fend off the pesky TNT KaTropa, 99-84, in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday, February 14. 

GlobalPort buried the KaTropa by as much as 30 points early in the 3rd quater before TNT regained its bearings in the 4th period and cut the deficit to 10 points, 84-94, off an 8-0 run sparked and ended with Jayson Castro triples.

A Stanley Pringle turnover with 2:25 minutes left opened the comeback door wide open for the KaTropa, who absorbed their 3rd straight loss, but they wouldn’t find the bottom of the net until the final buzzer.

Pringle paced the Batang Pier with a double-double effort of 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while Nico Elorde had a near-triple-double of 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in the win.

Four other GlobalPort players finished in double figures. Bradwyn Guinto added 12 points and 10 rebounds, Kelly Nabong had 10 points and 9 boards, Yousef Tafa chipped in 11 points while Jonathan Grey contributed 10 markers.

“We started aggressive kasi ang mindset namin is ‘yung Talk ‘N Text, they played like 3 games in a week, diba sunod sunod din sila kaya sabi namin na let’s take that advantage na ipush natin nang ipush tapos aggressive and physical kami sa depensa,” said GlobalPort head coach Pido Jarencio.

(We started aggressive because our mindset is that Talk ‘N Text played like 3 games in a week and we wanted to take advantage of that. We pushed and pushed and we were aggressive and physical on defense.)

GlobalPort improved to 4-4 for 7th place while TNT slid to 9th place behind a 4-6 slate.

Jayson Castro starred for the KaTropa with 24 points while Kelly Williams churned out 21 points and 12 boards.

The Scores:

Globalport (99): Elorde 17, Pringle 16, Guinto 12, Taha 11, Grey 10, Nabong 10, Teng 9, Araña 6, Gabayni 6, Sargent 2, Anthony 0, Flores 0, Juico 0

TNT (84): Castro 24, Williams 21, Pogoy 14, Carey 10, Tautuaa 8, Semerad 3, Garcia 2, Reyes 2, Paredes 0, Torres 0

Quarter scores: 34-12, 61-36, 79-64, 99-84 

– Rappler.com