Texters trip F Buster, win 4th straight

Kings humble hotshots

MANILA, Philippines - TNT KaTropa survived an atrocious shooting and an avalanche of errors, leaning on crucial defensive efforts at the finish to foil Mahindra, 86-84, for a fourth win in a row in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the MOA Arena in Pasay City last night.

Going without a field-goal basket and making only three-of-six free throws in the last three minutes of play, the Texters had to turn on key stoppages to save the day on the 42nd anniversary of the local pro league.

The Texters squeezed out the win and caught up with the Alaska Milk Aces at 4-1 despite a mere 38-percent field-goal clip, nine flubbed charities and 15 turnovers.

Tough defensive stance by the Texters forced Jason Deutchman and Alex Mallari to take a pair of bad shots at endgame, and Mahindra went down reeling with a fifth loss against a lone win.

The Texters sealed the win as Donte Greene grabbed the defensive rebound after a miss by Mallari with TNT ahead at 84-81 with just six seconds to go.

“I was telling the guys it’s time to build and develop good habits during the game. Obviously, we’re not able to do that tonight. We still had a lot of mistakes. It’s good we’re getting wins despite our struggle,” said TNT coach Nash Racela.

“At least today, it wasn’t come-from-behind,” Racela also said, recalling their fightback from 29 points in their 126-121 win in overtime over NLEX the last time out.

Before the NLEX game, the Texters also barely got past the Blackwater Elite, 92-89. Their lone convincing triumph was a 134-109 bashing of the Phoenix Fuel Masters after their losing conference debut against the Meralco Bolts.

Nonetheless, the Texters remained unbeaten since Jason Castro’s first game in the mid-season tourney.

Castro himself groped for form against the Floodbuster, going 3-of-8 from the field and committing five errors.

Later in the night, Barangay Ginebra made a key 19-point turnaround in the third quarter and never looked back en route to a 113-98 win over the erstwhile unbeaten Star side.

“It’s satisfying to get a good win against an elite team like Star. We’re playing with a small import and somehow we showed it could be done. We showed we can compete in this conference,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

Justin Brownlee took over the game and keyed Ginebra’s romp to their second win in three starts. He finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, four blocks and two steals.