Parks erupts for TNT

Tropang Giga in solo lead

MANILA, Philippines — Bobby Ray Parks Jr. had a grand debut in the PBA bubble last night, turning in a monster 40-11-5 game to power TNT Tropang Giga past Terrafirma, 112-101, and in the solo lead of the Philippine Cup.

Sidelined by a strained calf in TNT’s opening 100-95 win over Alaska last Sunday, Parks made a big impact with his career-best production as the Tropang Giga went 2-0 in the tournament restart at the AUF Sports Arena in Angeles City.

Parks made seven of his 10 three-point attempts and shot 72 percent from the floor overall as he picked up from where RR Pogoy left off.

Pogoy erupted for 45 in the opener and slowed down with 11 points against the Dyip.

Troy Rosario backstopped Parks with 20 markers, 15 boards and five assists while Jayson Castro and JP Erram chipped in 15 and 14, respectively.

Dyip star CJ Perez paced the Dyip with 30.

Earlier, resilient Rain or Shine took down title-holder San Miguel Beer in an 87-83 ambush to paint a rosy start to its bubble campaign.

The hot-starting Elasto Painters forced the Beermen to play catch-up throughout then fended off SMB’s late fightback with clutch shots by young guns Rey Nambatac and Jayvee Mocon to go 1-0.

Nambatac shook off a woeful shooting and knocked down a dagger trey that restored more breathing room for ROS against the rallying Beermen, 85-81, with 13 seconds left.

No-quit SMB pulled two back on a bucket by Terrence Romeo but ROS wouldn’t let this one slip away.

Mocon cashed in on his charities off a Chris Ross foul with 1.4 tick left to seal the victory on the night he tallied a career-high-equaling 25 markers.