August 04, 2017

Pogoy sparks KaTropa comeback past hard-luck Aces

WITH its import out, TNT went to the long ball and stretched Alaska's miseries in the process.

Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy and Ranidel de Ocampo took turns delivering the deep shots, enabling the KaTropa to notch a 107-106 nail-biter over the Aces Friday in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Pogoy made four of his seven triples in the fourth quarter and Castro two of his three, sparking and fueling TNT's charge to a 107-103 lead into the final 45 seconds of the match. Even De Ocampo chipped in a near-trey of his own that proved to be the go-ahead basket.

Ladontae Henton capped a career night with a bomb of his own to bring Alaska within one, but failed to make it more memorable when he missed a drive in traffic inside the last 10 seconds.

Jayvee Casio picked up the ball, but lost the handle and couldn't get a shot off as time expired, sealing the Aces' 0-4 start to the tourney and stretching their losing streak to 12 since the Commissioner's Cup.

Sponsored content:
For TNT, the win was fashioned after it fought its way back from as many as 14 points down and Michael Craig fouling out with still over five minutes left, largely explaining coach Nash Racela's big sigh of relief at the end.

"We knew all along more and more Alaska is becoming a more dangerous team," said Racela after his KaTropa bounced back from a 91-97 loss to San Miguel Beer just less than 48 hours before.

"I followed them in a couple of games and they've really been playing well. The effort's there, I think that (coach) Alex (Compton) does a marvelous job leading them, motivating them despite the situation that they are in.

"I think it's only a matter of time na mananalo din sila... but I really didn't want it to happen today. Good thing players stepped up."

Craig still wound up with 28 points and 19 rebounds to lead TNT, which would hardly miss the services of FIBA-Asia-bound Castro and Pogoy since their next game is on Aug. 20.

Sponsored content:
Before leaving for Lebanon, Pogoy notched 25 points while Castro flirted with a near-triple double of 23 points, nine rebounds and 10 steals. Troy Rosario, who is also set to leave for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, added 15 points and eight boards.

Henton paced everybody with 42 points on top of 22 rebounds while Calvin Abueva, who missed the game against Star last week, marked his return with 19 and 11.

Vic Manuel and Chris Banchero also finished in double figures for Alaska, which led by 63-49 and 66-52 in the third quarter and was still up by 95-82, going to the last 7:01.

Pogoy buried back-to-back triples and added two charities to bring TNT within five, but TNT's hopes seemingly dimmed when Craig committed his sixth foul against Abueva, whose charity split made it a six-point game.

Craig fouling out proved to be a blessing in disguise for TNT, which had to launch most of its shots from the outside and more often than not found the mark as a consequence.

"It was the players who decided to play and make the right plays," was how Racela described the endgame wherein his team only had two empty possessions. "It wasn't us (coaching staff) anymore. We just guided them. It was them who made the big plays."