TNT bombs M. Lhuillier

CEBU, Philippines - The Talk 'N Txt Tropang Texters unleashed a fierce endgame assault to bomb out the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños, 90-76, in the continuing action of the 2012 Mayor Mike Rama Cup PBA Pre-Season Games last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

Kelly Williams and Jayson Castro cashed in 16 points apiece, including bigtime hits in the windup that pump up life on the Tropang Texters in the face of M. Lhuillier's spirited resistance.

M. Lhuillier was actually in the thick of the fight early on and even took a 51-47 edge with 4:45 left in the third period, but Talk 'N Txt responded with an 11-2 blitz to wrest the driver's seat, 58-53, heading into the final 10-minute zone of the contest.

Stephen Padilla and Jeric Cañada sank back-to-back triples to put M. Lhuillier back on top, 60-58, but that proved to be their last hurrah as Williams scored six points in an eight-to-nothing burst that hand back Tropang Texters the lead for good, 66-60, with still 8:29 left to play.

Padilla tried to keep M. Lhuillier's head above the waters by drilling in two more triples, but Ryan Reyes played the fireman's role with his own accurate conversions from beyond the arc.

M. Lhuillier came close for the last time at 73-78 as Talk 'N Txt went on an other scoring frenzy to mount their biggest lead at 14 points, which turned out to be the final outcome.

Reyes and Jayson Escueta chipped in 11 markers each for Talk 'N Txt followed by Rigo Gamalinda with 10.

Padilla, Eric Rodriguez and Mark Magsumbol all finished with 14 points for M. Lhuillier, which hopes for a graceful exit as they take on Cebuano shotshot Dondon Hontiveros and the Alaska Aces in today's first game at 4 pm.

The team with the best record at the end of the three-day invitational tournament will automatically be declared as champion. As of this writing last night, Alaska and San Mig Coffee Mixers were still slugging it out for the solo lead.