TNT on brink of finals

MANILA, Philippines — With a searing third-quarter bombardment, titleholder

TNT took the Olmynfight out of Magnolia in Game 4 and moved to the doorstep of a third consecutive trip to the PBA Philippine Cup finals.

Led by an unlikely spearhead in Glenn Khobuntin, the Tropang Giga unleashed a telling 28-16 salvo in the penultimate period en route to a 102-84 romp and a commanding 3-1 upperhand in their best-of-seven semifinal series last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Khobuntin pumped in all of his nine markers in the third, where the defending champions pulled away to 70-54 from a four-point contest. TNT stifled the Hotshots to a 5-of-21 shooting (23.8 percent) while making 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) on the offensive end in that game-changing 12 minutes to seize control for good.

Continuing his stellar play from their 93-92 victory in Game 3, Poy Erram took the scoring cudgels for TNT with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

RR Pogoy added 18 while Mikey Williams shot 15 despite a scoreless spell in the first half and Troy Rosario also produced 15 to put the Chot Reyes-coached squad in position for the clincher in Game 5 tomorrow.

Earlier, Meralco generated abundant power in a must-win situation to torch San Miguel Beer, 111-97, and force a 2-2 deadlock in their own semis battle.

Aaron Black, Allein Maliksi, Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge sparked the Bolts to blazing starts in each quarter to lay the foundation to the wire-to-wire triumph that turned their confrontation into a virtual race-to-two derby for a finals berth.

Black scattered 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Maliksi shot 19 spiked by four triples as Hodge and Almazan produced 18 and 17, respectively, as the Bolts avoided falling into a 3-1 hole.

“Sabi ni coach if we want to win, let’s do it now. Kasi kapag natalo kami, parang mahirap na makabalik. Nag-respond lang kami, lahat nag-step-up,” said Almazan, whose 12-point outburst in the third canto enabled Meralco to regain control after SMB trimmed their early 19-point lead to just five in the second.

Just as their coach ordered, the Bolts sharpened their guns for their mission to equalize.

Maliksi, Black and Chris Newsome knocked down Meralco’s first three shots – all from beyond the arc – to ignite a fiery 20-8 opening.