In a team
chock-full of Fil-Ams, two locally bred stars have come to the fore to spearhead
the Tropang Texters’ 2-0 series lead over the Elasto-Painters.
In Game One,
it was Larry Fonacier’s dagger trey that sent ROS packing, while here in Game
Two it was the hot shooting of Ranidel De Ocampo that spotted the Texters with
a commanding series advantage and got the defending Philippine Cup Champs within
two wins of a three-peat.
De Ocampo shot
9-of-17 from the field to finish with a personal conference-high 24 points
while also adding 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He dominated from
practically everywhere on the floor, hitting 3 triples in the process. Jayson
Castro backed him up with 21 points while Kelly Williams finished with a dozen
markers.
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| Kelly Williams and the Texters rose well above the Elasto-Painters in Game Two. |
Once again,
the TNT defense stifled the usually explosive shooting of the Painters, who
were limited to just 36% FG shooting including just 6-of-23 from beyond the
arc. Smart Gilas shooter Jeff Chan had another miserable outing, making just 3
of his 11 field goal attempts to end up with only 9 points. JR Quiñahan and Paul
Lee led ROS’s losing cause with 16 and 15 points respectively. Coach Yeng Guiao’s
boys face a virtual must-win situation in Game Three if they want to really get
back in this series.
Game Recaps:
TALK N TEXT TROPANG TEXTERS
over RAIN OR SHINE ELASTO-PAINTERS, 89-81
Ranidel de
Ocampo was a one-man wrecking crew for Talk ‘N Text in Game Two of the
Philippine Cup finals.
The
versatile forward finished with a season-high 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds,
and made all but one of his three-point attempts, powering the Tropang Texters
to an 89-81 triumph over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Friday night at the
SM Mall of Asia Arena.
With the
win, the Tropang Texters posted a 2-0 series lead, moving halfway to completing
history by becoming the first team to win the Philippine Cup crown in three
straight seasons.
But for Talk
‘N Text coach Norman Black, going two up isn’t an occasion to celebrate just
yet.
“We’re up
2-0, but as far as I’m, concerned, it takes four wins to win the championship,”
said Black, whose Tropang Texters know their lead isn’t a safe one. In 2009,
Talk ‘N Text came back from the same deficit in their finals series against
Alaska to win the Philippine Cup.
But the
squad certainly looks poised to repeat if De Ocampo could keep up his
performance. The former St. Francis of Assisi star did his damage from all over
the court, posting up smaller defenders and drawing out Rain or Shine’s big men
with 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
He scored
six of the last nine points to preserve the win for Talk ‘N Text, who could go
up 3-0 in Game Three set Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“Ranidel is
our best post-up player, our best three-point shooter and one of our best big
men,” said Black.
“He’s been
doing that the entire year. He gave us leadership, showed composure and played
very physical. He made some big shots for us down the stretch.”
TNT 89 – De Ocampo 24, Castro 21,
Williams 12, Fonacier 7, Dillinger 6, Aban 6, Reyes 4, Carey 4, Alapag 3, Peek
2, Raymundo 0, Ferriols 0.
ROS 81 – Quinahan 16, Lee 15, Cruz 12,
Norwood 9, Chan 9, Arana 9, Matias 4, Belga 3, Rodriguez 2, Ibanes 2, Tiu 0,
Tang 0.
QS: 23-15, 44-35, 63-63, 89-81
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| Beau Belga reacts after getting tagged with an offensive foul against the Texters. |
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| Jimmy Alapag and the rest of the TNT squad are now just two wins away from the first-ever All-Filipino Cup three-peat. |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game
recaps were compressed and compiled from InterAKTV. (Writing credit to Rey
Joble.)
Images: All images are from InterAKTV.
(Photo credit to Paul Ryan Tan)
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