Texters trip Bolts, gain 2nd straight win

MANILA, Philippines - Talk n Text showed better cohesion coming off an 11-day break, dominating Meralco from tip-off and posting an emphatic 105-91 romp in its return into action in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Philsports Arena in Pasig last night.

The Tropang Texters proved to be in a hurry to show what they achieved during the break in terms of unity and consistency as they pulled away early at 33-17 behind their largest output in a quarter this season.

With a better bonding among the old TNT core and prized draft acquisitions Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario, the Texters clobbered the Bolts all throughout the contest in chalking up a second straight win following a losing season debut against the Alaska Milk Aces.

The Bolts just failed to keep up with the Texters’ torrid pace and stayed winless in three starts.

Jayson Castro came up with 15 points and became the second TNT player (through and through) to hit the 5,000-point mark after Jimmy Alapag.

Matt Ganuelas-Rosser topscored with 19 points, Tautuaa got away with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Rosario added 14 markers, two boards, one assist and one steal.

“We did a pretty good job playing better than our previous games. There’s always something to correct but generally, we really had a good game,” said TNT coach Jong Uichico.

 Uichico noted Tautuaa’s and Rosario’s improvement, saying they benefited from the 11-day breather.

“They’re getting better although I’m still trying to get to know how to use them, and them knowing what I want in terms of what we need to accomplish,” said Uichico.

San Miguel Beer settled down in the final quarter after a long struggle early on, overcoming Blackwater, 93-83, to catch up with Alaska Milk at second at 3-1 later in the night.

JunMar Fajardo came through with yet another double-double game with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Marcio Lassiter went a rebound short of what could have been his own double-double performance as the Beermen rebounded from a loss to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters the last time out.

The Elite failed to keep up with the Beermen in the final canto and suffered a third loss against a lone win.