Jul 17, 2019

KaTropa clinch top seeding, rout Hotshots, 98-83

There's no slowing down, no relax, no nothing for the TNT KaTropa though they're long assured of a twice-to-beat bonus in the PBA Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals.

They finished with aplomb in the elims on a 98-83 conquest of the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok Wednesday at the Big Dome, and they're heading into the postseason play as top seeds.

As the elims topnotchers with a dominant 10-1 win-loss card, the KaTropa face in the quarterfinals the No. 8 seed in either Alaska Milk or Meralco.

The Aces and the Bolts dispute the eighth and last slot in the quarters in a knockout setto Friday over at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

In dropping their game to the KaTropa, the Hotshots, meanwhile, slid to a joint fifth place windup with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the San Miguel Beermen at 5-6.
Upon the application of the quotient tiebreak, Magnolia ended up No. 5, Rain or Shine No. 6 and San Miguel No. 7.
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And it's Magnolia versus Barangay Ginebra and Blackwater opposite ROS in the pair of best-of-three showdowns in the quarters.

SMB, meanwhile, takes on No. 2 NorthPort, needing to win two in a row to advance to the Final Four.

"We're happy with the win as we want to keep our winning momentum going into the quarters," said TNT coach Bong Ravena.

"Kuha na namin ang short-term goal namin which is to have the twice-to-beat in the quarters. Next goal is to create the habit of being consistent in what we want to do, and in stepping up," Ravena also said.

The KaTropa showed that habit in trampling the Hotshots in their virtual no-bearing setto.
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Terrence Jones was all-business as usual, flirting with a triple-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. He also got five blocks and one steal against eight turnovers.

RR Pogoy drained four treys and finished with 20 markers while Brian Heruela and Jasyon Castro added 13 points apiece.

Getting assured of No. 5 spot on SMB's loss to Meralco early in the day, the Hotshots played with hardly a pizzazz.

They were into the game only in the first half, with new import Rakeem Christmas struggling all night. Christmas had only eight markers in his PBA debut.(SB)

The scores:

TNT 98 - Jones 26, Pogoy 20, Castro 13, Heruela 13, Magat 8, Reyes 5, Trollano 5, A. Semerad 3, Washington 3, Bono 2, Casino 0, D. Semerad 0, Golla 0, Taha 0.

Magnolia 83 - Lee 23, Simon 16, Sangalang 15, Jalalon 9, Christmas 8, Pingris 6, Barroca 2, Dela Rosa 2, Herndon 2, Ramos 0, Melton 0, Reavis 0, Abundo 0.

Quarterscores: 20-19, 45-37, 74-59, 98-83.