Saudi Gazette MANILA — Jayson Castro once again showed the moves that made him Asian basketball's best point guard as he led the Talk N Text Tropang Texters to a thrilling 91-86 victory over the Star Hotshots on Saturday night in a PBA Philippine Cup road game in Lucena City. Nicknamed "The Blur" for his deceptive lightning-quick moves, Castro exploded for 33 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field, including 5-of-9 clip from beyond the arc as TNT scored its third straight win to improve to a 3-1 win-loss record, to forge a five-way tie for the top spot with San Miguel Beer, GlobalPort, Alaska, and Rain or Shine. It was all Castro in the endgame as the Gilas Pilipinas superstar pumped in seven points in the last two minutes while also providing the defensive tenacity for the Texters. With TNT ahead by just 83-82 with only a minute left, Castro banged in a dagger three-pointer. He followed it up with a steal off Star's Justin Melton leading to a fastbreak layup to put the Texters ahead by six, 88-82, with 39.9 seconds left. Top draft pick Moala Tautuaa then scored on a breakaway jam after another steal to jack up TNT's lead to 90-82. The Hotshots refused to call it a night as James Yap drove for an easy layup following a timeout. Marc Pingris then got a steal and knocked in two free throws to cut the deficit to 90-86 with just 14 ticks left. After TNT's Troy Rosario split his charities, the Hotshots finally bowed out as they fell to their third defeat in five games to take solo seventh place in the standings. Games Sunday: Barako Bull Energy (1-2) vs. Mahindra Enforcers (1-3) and Barangay Ginebra Kings (1-2) vs. San Miguel Beermen (3-1).
