TNT KaTropa recovered from the trauma of their Game Two endgame slip, regaining control in the PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-seven finals with a 115-105 victory Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Terrence Jones made up for his costly ejection late in Game Two, showing his value once again and inspiring his teammates to bounce back from their sorry 125-127 loss in double-overtime Wednesday.
Jones exploded for 37 points, 18 rebounds, nine assists and five blocks and fellow starters RR Pogoy, Don Trollano, Jayson Castro and Troy Rosario sizzled with double-digit contributions as the KaTropa took the 2-1 lead in the race-to-four-games series.
The KaTropa came through with the right game-time adjustments, breaking SMB's zone defense with an avalanche of treys from Jones, RR Pogoy and Don Trollano.
Jones and Pogoy both went 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, Trollano connected on three out of five tries while Rosario and Brian Heruela added one triple each in a total of 15-of-38 clip as against SMB's mere 8-of-26 three-pointers.
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The Beermen were not far behind when Pogoy banged away the last two of his bombers to all but settle the outcome of the game at 113-99.
The Cebuano hotshots finished with 29 markers that he laced with eight rebounds and two assists without a single turnover. He had only 17 points in Game Two.
"Ang nasa isip ko di ma-pressure. I don't care kahit kung wala akong shoot last game, ang isip ko pag libre ako, titira ako," said Pogoy.
"Gusto kasi namin talagang bumawi kasi saying yung Game Two, amin na nawala pa," Pogoy added.
The Beermen picked up from where they left off in Game Two as they started strong in this game and led by as many as 17.
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The KaTropa, however, found their bearing even before the first half came to an end, unleashing a mind-boggling 24-to-nothing run to race ahead at 43-36.
The Beermen went on a dry spell for seven minutes stopped only by a trey by Chris Ross late in the second period.
From the 55-50 halftime count, the KaTropa kept their feet on the pedal, led by the largest at 100-85 midway through the fourth and cruised through to take the key win.
The early going was anxious moment for the KaTropa especially as Rosario drew quick fouls and Jones incurred a flagrant infraction in head-butting a taunting Ross.
After sitting out the next three minutes, Jones returned focused on the task at hand, and the KaTropa picked up a good rhythm and went on to foil SMB's bid for back-to-back wins.
The scores:
TNT 115 - Jones 37, Pogoy 29, Trollano 18, Castro 14, Rosario 13, Heruela 4, Washington 0, Golla 0, Taha 0, Carey 0, D. Semerad 0, Casino 0, Magat 0.
San Miguel 105 - McCullough 27, Fajardo 27, Romeo 13, Pessumal 12, Santos 10, Standhardinger 8, Ross 5, Cabagnot 3, Rosser 0.
Quarterscores: 18-33, 55-50, 86-78, 115-105
