Texters topple Kings, seal duel vs Beermen

MANILA, Philippines - Talk n Text bucked a first-half struggle, clicking on both ends in the second half to rip Barangay Ginebra, 83-67, and gain the last berth in the PBA Philippine Cup Final Four at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Tropang Texters played tough defense and struck hard from around the paint to overcome a miserable 3-of-25 three-point shooting and advance to the best-of-seven semifinals versus the San Miguel Beermen.

Final Four action begins tomorrow at the Mall of Asia Arena with Game One of the Rain or Shine-Alaska Milk faceoff. Talk n Text and San Miguel Beer start their own semis series Friday, also at the Pasay City playing venue.

“It’s really tough to play Ginebra and we had to take some gambles. One was playing a short rotation playing them longer minutes. It’s good it worked,” said Talk n Text coach Jong Uichico.

Jayson Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo, Jay Washington, Larry Fonacier, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Harvey Carey and Ryan Reyes played extended minutes with Castro, De Ocampo and Rosser bearing the brunt of their offense as they stretched their hot streak to six games.

“We didn’t play well in the first half, but we got better in the second half although we didn’t score that much,” said Uichico.

The Texters established control in the third quarter and poured it all in the last five minutes to post the emphatic win.

Castro topscored with 23 points while De Ocampo and Rosser added 17 and 13 markers, respectively, as the Texters avenged an 81-101 blowout suffered at the hands of the Kings in the season opener last October.

“I was new with the team at nagkakapaan pa kami sa team noon (we’re still trying to gel then). I was not used to them and I didn’t know how to play the team then,” Uichico recalled.

It’s like a distant past now with the Texters now in a zone, winning nine of their last 10 games.

The former Philippine Cup three-peat champs hope to get going as they take a shot at a return stint in the all-Filipino finals versus another SMC team the San Miguel Beermen.

“It’s hard playing San Miguel. They (the Beermen and the Gin Kings) are similar with both having big men. We’ll have our hands full because we don’t have a real big man. We have to find a way (to beat them),” said Uichico.

The amiable TnT coach won championships both with the Kings and the Beermen.

Talk n Text threatened to pull away in the second period but Ginebra responded quickly as the two teams fought to a 40-all count at the half.

Falling behind by eight at 22-30, the Kings went to Mark Caguioa, Mac Baracael and LA Tenorio in working on a 13-4 run to surge ahead at 35-34.

They fought through four lead changes before Yeo rifled in a trey to force the 40-all deadlock. The Kings even had a chance to seize the halftime lead but Jayjay Helterbrand missed his own attempt from beyond the arc at the buzzer.

Emman Monfort nailed their only other three-pointer at the buzzer as Ginebra trimmed Talk n Text’s lead to 22-25 in the first canto.