TNT, RoS close in on semifinals

MANILA, Philippines – Titleholder Tropang TNT and Rain or Shine, the lower seeds, pulled off contrasting wins over Alaska Milk and Barangay Ginebra, respectively, in the opener of their best-of-three quarterfinal showdowns in the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome last night.

The Texters, largely behind a career best game of top rookie Troy Rosario, bucked the Aces’ endgame fightback for a 106-99 win while the Elasto Painters waged a searing chase from 19 points down and upended the Gin Kings, 88-84.

TNT and ROS take their first shot at wrapping up their respective quarters series over at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tomorrow.

Tonight also at the Big Dome, reigning two-conference champion San Miguel Beer and Meralco, the quarters’ twice-to-beat holders, go for the kill versus Star and NLEX.

Rosario starred for the Texters while Jeff Chan sizzled in the crunch for the E-Painters in Day One of playoff play.  

Hailed as a promising agile center/power forward in his amateur days, Rosario has become a bigger threat with a mean three-point shooting added to his weaponry.

In a coming-out party as a gunner, Rosario banged away seven three-pointers to highlight a career-high 31-point explosion as the Texters thwarted the Aces.

Chan, meanwhile, delivered key buckets coming off the bench in the homestretch as the E-Painters completed a stirring triumph coming from a big 19-point first-half deficit.

 David Simon, Jayson Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo also churned out huge numbers as they beat out the Aces in an exciting duel marked by wild momentum swings.

As the Aces fought back from a double-digit deficit and surged ahead at 86-85, Rosario fired away his biggest three-point bombs – three in a row – to stop Alaska’s momentum.

In the crunch, Castro and De Ocampo joined forces with Rosario as the Texters frustrated the Aces and rolled to the threshold of the Final Four of the mid-season tourney that they won over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last season.  

“Coach Jong (Uichico) is just giving me the confidence to take the shots,” said Rosario, the game’s hands-down best player with a remarkable 7-of-10 three-point shooting and an 11-of-17 overall clip in a game topping his previous best of five treys and 22 total markers in their 107-92 conquest of the Barangay Ginebra Kings.

As Rosario nailed his seventh and last trey, TNT pulled even at 94 then Simon and Castro also canned in clutch buckets as the Texters regained the upper hand, 99-97, within the last two minutes.

Moments later, Rosario also embellished his game with a rescued three-point play from a missed layup by Castro as the Texters put the game away.

TNT avenged a 100-108 loss to Alaska in the elims with Simon, Castro and De Ocampo all piling up double-double numbers.