TnT toys with importless Shell

Talk n Text took an importless Shell team lightly and went through a wringer before pulling off a 98-93 win in the Samsung PBA Reinforced Conference at the Astrodome last night.

Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag and Damien Cantrell put in big numbers but 16 big turnovers made it a bit hard for the Phone Pals to hurdle the fierce-fighting Turbochargers.

But the Phone Pals won just the same, stretching to five games their winning streak after losing their opening match in the season-ending tourney curiously versus the Turbochargers themselves last Aug. 31.

Incidentally, Talk n Text has matched its total number of wins the entire 2002 season as the Phone Pals nailed a 27th victory this campaign.

In the Ginebra-Purefoods one-on-one competition, Francis Adriano escaped with an 11-9 win over Gherome Ejercito with the Sta. Lucia guard missing a layup at the buzzer.

"Nagkumpiyansa," rued interim Talk n Text coach Virgil Villavicencio.

"Damien (Cantrell) was off (offensively) but he was there on defense. At yung kalaban namin tinakbuhan kami nang tinakbuhan. But we’re able to break their momentum by slowing the game down," Villavicencio added.

Shell was forced to play with an all-Filipino lineup as Sedric Webber suffered a fractured left foot in their last game against FedEx last Friday. The team is still looking for a replacement at the moment.

But the Turbochargers refused to simply roll down and die, playing with lots of spunk as they waged a big fight up to the end. They fought the Phone Pals through four deadlocks and five lead changes.

The Phone Pals finally heaved a sigh of relief only after Jimmy Alapag made two charities, making it 98-93 with 20 seconds left to play.

Alapag finished with 20 points and career-high 15 assists. Taulava had 29 points and 17 rebounds and Cantrell 17 points and 24 rebounds. On the downside, the three accounted for 15 of Talk n Text’s 16 errors.

Bong Ravena added 13 points for the Phone Pals, who also drew eight points from Harvey Carey and six from Vic Pablo.

Tony dela Cruz fashioned out another splendid game with 23 points, leading five Turbochargers who finished in double figures. Eddie Laure had 18, Dale Singson 14 and Ronald Tubid and Chris Calaguio 11 apiece.