Tropang 5g take opener

ANTIPOLO, Philippines —  With Kelly Williams providing the calming presence, TNT got the jump on San Miguel Beer, 96-91, in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup finals last night at the Ynares Center.

The Tropang 5G raced to an early 19-point lead but needed to weather SMB’s searing second-half storm to pull it off.

And providing the rock in this hard-earned opening salvo was Williams, who aside from his duty as primary defender of June Mar Fajardo, did a lot more.

The grizzled veteran took the scoring cudgels for TNT with 15 points while grabbing nine rebounds and swatting away one shot. He issued three assists, the last two of which leading to a pair of easy baskets from Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser that gave the Tropang 5G a 92-87 cushion in the last 49.7 seconds.

“My role is to try to keep everyone steady. I have probably the most experience in this kind of situation. I was reminded during the jersey retirement of Ranidel (De Ocampo) how big it is to have someone who is just calm in the storms so I want to make sure I can be that,” said Williams.

“In our team, we’re looking for players to contribute with defense, and in other ways – setting screens and making the right pass, not necessarily the assists. In the end, the veteran that Kelly is, he’s able to make those decisions. And the key is really not taking the ball over, when he had the ball he was making the right play whether he finished at the rim or made a pass to his teammate,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes.

Calvin Oftana produced a 13-10 double-double for TNT while Jordan Heading matched his 13, spiked by four free throws in the dying seconds that extinguished SMB’s final threat.

June Mar Fajardo delivered 24-17 while Mo Tautuaa banged in 22, including 13 in their third-quarter rally, for the Beermen,