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| Denzel Bowles puts it down with authority as the Llamados draw first blood in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals. |
B-MEG LLAMADOS over TALK
N TEXT TROPANG TEXTERS, 88-82
On a night
Talk N Text was mainly shooting blanks from the stripe, B-Meg chose an
inopportune time to follow suit.
Good thing then
that the Llamados still managed to put in a point here and there to escape with
a victory Monday at the start of their PBA Commissioner's Cup championship duel
at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Denzel
Bowles and Donnell Harvey practically canceled each other out and it was PJ
Simon bucking foul trouble to score eight of his 18 points during a crucial
stretch that essentially enabled B-Meg to gain the head start in the
best-of-seven series.
It was those
bricks from the stripe that gnawed at B-Meg coach Tim Cone the most, and TNT counterpart
Chot Reyes also cited it as the main reason following the game watched by close
to 14,000 fans.
Despite such
dismal charity shooting, TNT still managed to fight back from two early
14-point deficits, wrest control in the third period and bucked a field
goal-less stretch in the fourth period to keep within striking distance.
Jimmy
Alapag's triple even shoved the defending champions within 82-86, but that
proved to be their last gasp as they went 0-for-3 and committed a turnover
inside the final 44 seconds.
Cone could
let out his sigh of relief only after the final buzzer has sounded, however, as
James Yap and Marc Pingris could only manage splits in their respective final
trips to the line.
Cone expects
TnT to bounce back strong come Game 2 Wednesday, also at the Big Dome.
Bowles
finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds while Joe Devance and Pingris added 11
each.
Before the
series started, Reyes expressed his apprehension about B-Meg's depth and he was
proven right when the likes of Mark Barroca, JC Intal, Yancy de Ocampo and even
Rafi Reavis chipped in. Reavis wound up with a team-high 12 boards.
It was also
Devance who buried B-Meg's lone triple for the night and it came during an 18-5
run during the first eight minutes of the fourth period that wiped out TnT's
67-62 lead and installed the Llamados on top to stay, 80-72.
Harvey also
had 25 points to go with 13 rebounds, but Alapag and Ryan Reyes were the only
other Texters who had double digit outputs.
With Bowles
throwing his weight around the shaded lane and Simon, Pingris and Reavis
lending ample help, B-Meg posted early leads of 28-14 and 30-16 and went into
the halftime break with a 48-40 spread.
That proved
flimsy enough during the third period that saw Larry Fonacier scattering seven
points, Bowles committing five of his gamehigh seven turnovers and the Texters
missing just three of 10 free throw attempts to outscore the Llamados, 27-13.
BML 88 - Bowles 25, Simon 18, Devance 11, Pingris 11, Yap 9, Barroca
4, Intal 3, Reavis 3, Urbiztondo 2, De Ocampo 2, Villanueva 0.
TNT 82 - Harvey 25, Alapag 12, Reyes
10, Fonacier 8, Williams 6, Dillinger 5, Castro 5, De Ocampo 5, Carey 4, Peek
2, Gamalinda 0, Aguilar 0.
QS: 25-14, 48-40, 62-67, 88-82
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| PJ Simon sizzled at the right time to help propel B-Meg to a 1-0 advantage in the series. |
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| Tim Cone is seeking redemption after the Llamados were ousted prematurely in the previous conference. |
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| Donnel Harvey (center) and the Texter struggled with their free throws in Game 1. (image by Paul Ryan Tan/InterAKTV.com) |
Source: Unless otherwise specified, game
recaps were compressed and compiled from PBA.ph
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