TNT returns from Gilas break with rout of Blackwater

MANILA, Philippines — The TNT Tropang Giga showed little rust in their first game back from a week-long break with a convincing win over the hapless Blackwater Bossing, X106-93, in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday.

Returning from a tour of Gilas duty, the Tropang Giga made light work of the Bossing and notched their third straight win to improve to 5-4.

The Philippine Cup champions leaned on a balanced offensive attack led by Mikey Williams and Aaron Fuller to send Blackwater to the brink of yet another winless conference and their 29th consecutive defeat.

Though it was not a total walk in the park for the TNT with the Bossing playing at pace with them in the first two quarters of the game.

The game was in a 29-all deadlock after a JVee Casio triple with 5:58 left in the second period.

But a quick 10-0 scoring burst for the Tropang Giga helped stave off their upset-seeking efforts.

The Bossing fought to keep their heads afloat in the second half but faltered against the more powerful TNT offense.

TNT led by as much as 20 points in the wire-to-wire victory.

Williams led TNT in the scoring column with 23 points while Fuller finished with a double-double of 16 points and 22 rebounds.

RR Pogoy, who played for Gilas in the recently concluded window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, chipped in with 16 markers.

Ryan Reyes also provided a spark off of the bench for TNT with 16 points.

Reinforcement Sean Glover paced the 0-10 Blackwater with 26 points, 15 boards, and nine assists.

Casio, meanwhile, picked up the slack for the locals with 21 points.

Blackwater has one game remaining to snap their dismal losing streak and finish the conference on a high note when they face the league-leading Magnolia Hotshots on Wednesday, March 9.

TNT, meanwhile, will play two more games next week to wrap up its elimination round matches.

The Tropang Giga will face the Terrafirma Dyip on Wednesday as well then the Northport Batang Pier on Friday, March 11.