ANTIPOLO CITY - TnT Katropa played inspired ball with its local crew as it rallied back to stun Meralco, 92-90, for its first win in the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Center here Sunday night.
Terrence Romeo, Roger Pogoy, and Jayson Castro connived in a blistering closeout by the Katropa to complete the come-from-behind win which they fashioned out in the absence of import Mike Glover.
The TnT import was immediately sent home after TnT's 103-90 loss to NLEX last Friday for 'failing to meet management's expectations.'
Without an import, Romeo, Pogoy, and Castro carried the fight for the Katropa, who trailed, 76-83, with 4:04 left in the game before the high-scoring trio began to take charge.
Castro got the lucky bounce off a high three-pointer to tie the game at 85-all, before Pogoy hit a floater inside the one minute mark to break the deadlock and give the Katropa the lead for good.
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Romeo then put the icing on the cake after Castro found him wide open for a corner three, 90-85, in the final 18. 2 seconds.
"It was a nice win for us today. It's forcing us to think about playing all-Filipino the rest of the conference," joked coach Nash Racela afterwards.
"The locals went to play today. That's the expectations," he added. "We made a lot of good decisions on both ends of the floor."
Romeo led the Katropa with 23 points and came two rebounds shy of a triple-double with his eight boards and 10 assists.
Pogoy added 19 and Castro with 16, while big man Troy Rosario finished 3-of-5 from three-point range to finish with 13 points.
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The Bolts fell to an even 1-1 card with their tormentor, despite getting 27 points and 22 rebounds from Allen Durham. The two-time Best Import awardee though, went 6-of-17 from the floor.
Baser Amer had eight and Chris Newsome 10 for the Bolts, including two free throws with 2:38 to go for an 85-82 lead.
It proved to be the final stand for Meralco.
"I'm a little embarrassed with the outcome. Playing a team without an import, it's a game that we should have won," admitted losing coach Norman Black.(RG)
