Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 14) — The TNT KaTropa are one victory away from booking a place in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
The KaTropa took a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series against Barangay Ginebra with a 107-103 win on Tuesday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Joshua Smith led TNT with 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Tony Semerad and R.R. Pogoy chipped in with 14 apiece.
It was a hard-fought battle, which saw Ginebra carrying a small 85-84 edge over the KaTropa.
Things got difficult for TNT after collecting four straight fouls between the 7:45 and 7:55 mark of the payoff period to put them in the penalty situation.
But Semerad played the role of savior for the KaTropa, scoring all four of his three pointers to give them a 105-103 cushion with 53 seconds left on the clock.
In the final offensive possession, a Jayson Castro miss found its way to Smith, who iced the game, 107-103, with eight ticks left on the clock.
LA Tenorio and Justin Brownlee paced Ginebra with 22 markers apiece in the loss.
After the game, TNT head coach Nash Racela praised Semerad’s late game heroics, but stressed that it was a team victory.
“Tony made big shots today, those are the things that will really help up in the playoffs,” Racela said. “Today, it was a collective effort.”
Barangay Ginebra look to extend their season against TNT in Game 3 on Thursday at the Big Dome.
