It’s SMB vs Ginebra, TNT against Meralco
MANILA, Philippines — Taking the cue from early semifinalists San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra, top seed TNT and No. 4 Meralco arranged their own sibling duel in the next round of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The win-once Tropang Giga blitzed to the best-of-five Final Four with an emphatic 132-107 romp over No. 8 Phoenix in their side of the quarterfinals yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Not to be outdone, the twice-to-beat Bolts ground out a pulsating 113-107 comeback victory in overtime over fifth-ranked Magnolia in the nightcap to follow their fellow MVP Group franchise in the battle for a coveted seat to the championship.
TNT and Meralco’s victories completed the semis cast after sister teams SMB, the No. 2 seed, and Ginebra, the No. 3, made short work of their respective quarters opponents, No. 7 Converge (121-105) and No. 6 NLEX (127-93) last Sunday, to set their semis dance.
The fiery race to the finals immediately blasts off tomorrow over at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Shaking off a “frustrating” first half, the Tropang Giga unleashed a telling 34-19 salvo in the third canto to seize control against the Fuel Masters, 100-83.
Glenn Khobuntin sparked that breakaway with three triples and wound up with a career-high 19 points en route to Player of the Game honors.
TNT drew the usual solid games from import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who turned in an 18-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, and local aces RR Pogoy (25-11), Jayson Castro (20), Calvin Oftana (15) and Mikey Williams (14).
For its part, no-quit Meralco wiped out a seven-point deficit in the last 1:30 of regulation to force Magnolia to extra time, then leaned on Chris Newsome’s 10-point late outburst to seal the deal.
Newsome finished with a new personal best of 33 markers with 11 boards and seven as KJ McDaniels posted 27, including a booming trey that gave the Bolts a 109-103 spread with 57 ticks left.