MANILA, Philippines -- Talk n Text overhauled a six-point deficit in the last 37 seconds of regulation then shut down Petron Blaze in overtime, pulling off an amazing 93-85 victory to stay among the frontrunners in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
Donnell Harvey delivered a PBA career-high 38 points and the Talk n Text locals took over in the crunch, carving out a win that coach Norman Black considered among his best in the league.
“It’s one of the best wins I’ve ever had in the PBA for couples of reasons. One is that we want to stay ahead in the standings. Second, we need a confidence-booster as we’re struggling in the conference,†said Black whose chargers have been on an up-and-down ride, just going above the .500 mark again at 5-4.
“We need this win badly. We won the all-Filipino conference but it seems years and years and years at this point,†Black also said.
Jimmy Alapag, Ranidel de Ocampo and Kelly Williams stuck the dagger on Petron as the Tropang Texters made it 9-0 over the Boosters since staring at a 1-3 deficit versus the same opponents in the Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals last year.
Petron blew away what had looked like a won ball game on three muffed charities in the last 37 seconds of regulation and failed to recover, going scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting and three turnovers.
The loss relegated the Boosters to joint second with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 6-3.
De Ocampo and Alapag rifled in a three-pointer each in the last 25 seconds of regulation as Talk n Text sent the game into OT at 85-all.
Actually, the Boosters still had a chance to salvage the game with 1.4 ticks left after Alapag tied the count at 85. Ronald Tubid, however, made an errant in-bounds to Junmar Fajardo.
In the extension period, the Tropang Texters immediately took command on a jumper by Kelly Williams and a tip-in by Harvey off a Williams miss.
Harvey went 11-of-21 from the field and 16-of-18 from the stripe and collected 17 rebounds in what’s easily his most productive performance in the local pro league.
Still, Harvey needed help from his local teammates to overcome the solid Petron stand even with the struggling debut of import replacement Rodney White.
White came through with just 12 points and seven rebounds against four errors and four quick fouls in 31 minutes of action.
Marcio Lassiter, Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot and Fajardo carried the fight for the Boosters with each one logging at least 13 points each as they battled the Texters through 12 dead locks and 17 lead changes.
They had appeared headed for the win as Lassiter bombed away from beyond the arc then Cabagnot converted a running jumper and hit a foul shot, giving Petron an 85-79 cushion with 37.1 seconds left in regulation.
NOTES: Air21 import Michael Dunigan and San Mig’s Denzel Bowles are being considered to be Gilas Pilipinas’ naturalized players in the future. National coach Chot Reyes said in his Twitter account that he’s discussed the prospect with Air21 coach Franz Pumaren and San Mig mentor Tim Cone. While Marcus Douthit is already 33 years old, Dunigan and Bowles are both 23 who can be very useful in SBP’s long-term program for the national team…..James Yap (22,241), Calvin Abueva (20,227) and Arwind Santos (18,557) were running first-second-third through March 15 in the balloting for the 2013 All-Star Game.