Tropang Texters crisp shooting scuttles Aces

MANILA, Philippines - Frontrunner Talk n Text picked up from where it left off in the elimination phase, tearing to shreds Alaska Milk, 103-85, at the start of the PBA Governors Cup semifinal round at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Blasting the Air21 Express, 145-116, in their last elims game Saturday, the Tropang Texters returned playing a sustained sterling game to improve their carry-over win-loss record to 7-2.

The Texters shot extremely well from halfcourt set and also pounced on the Aces with fastbreak points on every opportunity.

“It’s hard to stop a team shooting 50 percent from the three-point line with that many attempts. Hopefully, we can find a way to sustain that,” said Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes on their 16-of-32 shooting that spelled a big difference as they handed the Aces a fourth loss against five wins.

“This is step one. There are still a lot of games to be played and we’re really hopeful that we can be consistent on our efforts,” Reyes added.

The Texters did draw added boost from new import Scottie Reynolds who came through with 18 points, including 14 to lead the team in their decisive second-quarter breakaway.

“One reason why we did the import change was that we felt by having Scottie, he would be someone Alaska doesn’t know much about. We wanted them off balanced that way,” said Reyes.

“And we were lucky on lots of instances. We shot very well from the outside and we had a big break with Alaska not having Cyrus Baguio who’s a big part of their offense,” Reyes added.

Baguio sat out the game with an MCL (medial cruciate ligament) injury.

Talk n Text also had a key player out in Ranidel de Ocampo who suffered a broken nose in practice. The Texters, however, hardly missed his absence on a torrid shooting that the Aces couldn’t stop.

Ryan Reyes knocked in six of eight three-point attempts and finished with 20 points, three assists and two rebounds while Larry Fonacier added three treys and a total of 21 markers.

Kelly Williams, Jason Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Ali Peek also delivered significant numbers, making it easy for the Texters to negate Jason Forte’s game-highs of 22 points and 20 rebounds.

Reynolds, Reyes and Alapag combined for a remarkable 8-of-15 three-point shooting as the Texters sat on a 53-44 cushion at the half.

The new TnT import rifled in two treys in the second quarter, including one in the closing seconds after a no-call on a rebound play involving Forte.

The Texters were down by one, 31-32, before Reynolds, Reyes, Fonacier, Williams and Carey teamed up in a spirited run that opened a double-digit spread, 50-40, for TnT with 3:13 left in the first half.

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The Aces actually set the pace in the opening quarter, leading by as many as eight at 20-12 on a 13-to-nothing attack.