Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 6) — The TNT KaTropa took Game 1 of their best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Meralco Bolts, 102-84, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup on Monday at the Big Dome.
TNT guard Jayson Castro ripped the Bolts with 25 points, seven assists, and six rebounds.
The KaTropa were quicker to the punch in the opening frame, utilizing a 15-0 run to take a 21-6 cushion early on.
Meralco battled back to trim the deficit to 53-51 with 4:55 left in the third period but that was as close as they got.
TNT continued to reassert their mastery over the Bolts as they entered the payoff period with a 69-59 lead.
The KaTropa would not look back pushing their lead to as much as 93-69 on the way to the victory.
Meralco guard Chris Newsome scored 21 markers in the loss.
According to TNT head coach Nash Racela, all of his players were locked in from the offensive end of the floor.
“I think offensively, we were just blessed to have contributions from everybody today,” Racela said. “It doesn’t normally happen, but today it really helped us.”
The Meralco Bolts will look to extend their season when they take on TNT in Game 2 on Wednesday also at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
