Talk ‘N Text’s winning streak reaches 3 with Meralco win

MANILA, Philippines – After limping to a slow 1-2 start in the 2014-2015 PBA Philippine Cup, the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters are now healthy and gaining steam a little over halfway through their elimination round campaign.

Coach Jong Uichico’s team won their third straight game and improved to 4-2 on Tuesday, November 11 by beating the now 3-2 Meralco Bolts, 80-72, at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City. 

Ryan Reyes put up 17 points while Ranidel De Ocampo finished with 15. Harvey Carey had only 7 but grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked two late shots that were critical to the win.

Jimmy Alapag played in his second game back this conference, scoring 7. Rookies Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Kevin Alas combined to score 9.

“We played both ends of the floor the way we wanted to,” said Uichico, whose Tropang Texters limited the Bolts to two field goals in the last 5 minutes of the game. 

“Give credit to Meralco for playing great defense against us,” he also said about the Bolts, whose head coach Norman Black was the mentor of the Texters last PBA season.

Talk ‘N Text looked like they had the game in the bag after a reverse layup by the rookie Ganuelas-Rosser and a 3-pointer by De Ocampo, which put the Tropang Texters ahead 76-67 with 2:10 left in the game.

However, Meralco quickly countered by turning to their best player so far in the Philippine Cup, Cliff Hodge, who grabbed an offensive rebound and right away put up a second-chance basket. After getting a defensive stop in the next play, the Bolts handed the offense to Mike Cortez, who converted a basket to cut TNT’s lead to 4.

Meralco then forced the Texters into another miss but was unable to grab the rebound and was forced to send Alapag to the free throw line, where he made both. In the subsequent possession, Cortez missed both his free throws after getting fouled, paving the way for his team’s loss.

Gary David finished with 17 points to lead Meralco while Hodge had just 5. No other Bolts player finished in double figures but Sean Anthony and Reynel Hugnatan came close with 9 points each.

TNT will be back in action next Tuesday, November 18 when they take on the GlobalPort Batang Pier at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Meralco, on the other hand, will be part of this Saturday’s November 15 game and will take on the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Davao City.

Scores:

TALK ‘N TEXT (80): Reyes, Ryan 17, De Ocampo 15, Castro 12, Alapag 7, Carey 7, Fonacier 7, Rosser 7, Washington 4, Alas 2, Williams 2, Espiritu 0, Reyes, Rob 0, Seigle 0, Aban 0, Labagala 0.

MERALCO (72): David 17, Anthony 9, Hugnatan 9, Cortez 8, Dillinger 8, Macapagal 8, Atkins 5, Hodge 4, Ildefonso 2, Caram 2, Ferriols 0, Buenafe 0, Sena 0, Guevarra 0.

Quarter scores: 22-19, 37-33, 53-55, 80-72.

– Rappler.com