Titan Ultra cracks Macau code

MANILA, Philippines — Since coming on board as a guest team in the PBA, Macau has got Titan Ultra in a vise.

The foreign squad outclassed the league’s youngest franchise in their lone meeting in the Commissioner’s Cup elims (119-107) then repeated when they faced off in the first round of the Governors’ Cup (132-126).

Last night, in their return engagement in Group A and third matchup overall, the Giant Risers said enough.

Titan seized control with a torrid 47-29 first-quarter bombing then overcame Macau’s late fightback to seal a vengeful 132-128 victory and catch up with the latter at 2-5 last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Not only have the Giant Risers squeezed out of Macau’s stranglehold but they also brought their campaign back on track after going on a two-game slide.

“Malaking bagay na nakabawi kami,” said Titan coach Rensy Bajar.

Tirrell Brown dished out a stellar 36-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist performance to lead the Giant Risers to this payback. He got the last laugh of his duel with De’Vondre Perry whose 45-14 effort went down the drain as Macau saw its two-game streak snapped.

Titan unloaded eight triples in the opening period to seize an 18-point tear, stretching it to a high of 29 in the next before settling for a 20-point upperhand at the break with its franchise-high first-half score of 80.

Later, rampaging NLEX completed a six-game sweep of Round 1 with an 88-83 win over TNT.

Jimmy Alapag’s Road Warriors jumped the gun on Chot Reyes’ Tropang 5G, 56-39, then weathered the defending champions’ second-half surge to keep their mark spotless. Injury-hit TNT slipped to 3-3.