Talk N Text rookie Kevin Alas gets fouled by Purefood's Mark Barroca as he drives to the basket in Thursday night's PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinal action at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. JAY R. GOTERA Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The Talk N Text Tropang Texters shot the lights out of Smart-Araneta Coliseum with barrages of three-point bombs to topple the defending champion Purefoods Star Hotshots, 111-107, Thursday night, thus taking a commanding 2-1 lead in their PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinals series.
TNT can clinch the series and head into a best-of-seven Finals against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters with a third straight victory over Purefoods Saturday.
The Texters set a new season record in three-point shooting, knocking down 19 out of 32 attempts from beyond the arc for a red-hot 59.4 percent three-point shooting clip. Overall, TNT shot a scorching 55.9 percent from the field, converting 38 of 68 shots.
For the third straight game, Jayson Castro was the man of the hour for TNT, finishing with a team-high 27 points, 10 assists, three rebounds and three steals. Nicknamed the Blur for his explosive plays, Castro once again lived up to his reputation as one of the best shooting guards in Asia, drilling eight of nine three-point shots, including a dagger triple with a minute left that finally broke the backs of the hard-fighting Hotshots.
Import Ivan Johnson was as devastating as Castro, posting 26 points and 14 rebounds.
Three other Texters scored in double digits with Aaron Aban coming off the bench to fire away with 17 points, including two three-pointers. Ranidel de Ocampo and Jay Washington added 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The match was played at a torrid pace as the two teams exchanged volleys after volleys of long-range bombs in a high-scoring contest.
The Texters erected a tenuous three-point lead, 63-60, at halftime. They continued finding their marks from the outside in the third quarter as a buzzer-beater from Castro pushed TNT's lead to nine, 89-80.
The Hotshots used their championship poise and big fighting hearts to cut TNT's lead to just three, 93-90, late in the fourth quarter.
But Johnson, Castro and De Ocampo each buried three-pointers to push TNT's lead back to double digit, 102-92, with 6:27 remaining.
Purefoods refused to bend over as PJ Simon caught fire in the final canto. But after trimming TNT's lead to just five, 108-103, Castro buried his final three-pointer for the night with about a minute left, quashing Purefoods' gallant bid to level the series once again.
Import Denzel Bowles once again played a monster game, dishing out a humongous 39 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.
Simon added 18 points off the bench while James Yap and Marc Pingris chipped in11 and 10 points, respectively.
James Yap and Marc Pingris added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Game Saturday: Talk N Text Tropang Texters vs. Purefoods Star Hotshots (Game 4 of best-of-5 semifinals; TNT leads series 2-1).
