TNT gunner Calvin Oftana surprisingly muffed a free throw off a technical foul on Magnolia forward Calvin Abueva with 3:55 to go. Two plays later, Oftana redeemed himself with a booming left corner three-pointer that gave his team more breathing room last night.
With Oftana showing the way, the Tropang Giga held off the Hotshots 103-100 for their first win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Converge battles unbeaten NorthPort today with this year’s No. 1 pick overall Justine Baltazar could suit up in the first game while Meralco faces winless Blackwater at the same venue.
Coach Chot Reyes said TNT’s battle cry was to play with more effort—which it did for most parts of the duel until the endgame of the Tropang Giga’s victory that saw Magnolia stage a last-ditch comeback bid that only fell short.
“Our only focus for this game was effort. That was written in big letters in our board because I was very upset with the effort, we’ve shown in our first two games even before looking at the technical aspects of the game,” Reyes said. “Not having Jayson (Castro), Kelly (Williams), and Poy (Erram) in our first two games was a big blow for us.
“But it’s not an excuse for not exerting our best effort that’s why I’m very pissed today, I’m very upset with the way we finished this game. We gave up eight points in the last 40 seconds,” he added.
Oftana banged in a new career-high of 42 points on nine triples, to go with seven rebounds and two assists for the Tropang Giga while import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson complemented him with equally gaudy numbers of 41 markers, 13 boards, and five dimes.
TNT bounced back from an 84-105 loss to foreign guest team Eastern last Friday and improved to 1-2.
The Hotshots reeled off to their third defeat, including a 103-107 setback at the hands of the Batang Pier Wednesday last week for a 1-3 slate in the import-spiced tilt.
The Tropang Giga took a 52-48 lead at the break and still enjoyed an 83-69 edge heading into the fourth canto.
A Hollis-Jefferson slam dunk padded TNT’s advantage to as much as 89-77 at the 7:39 mark.
Reinforcement Ricardo Ratliffe paced Magnolia with 27 points and 14 caroms while Mark Barroca added 18 and two.
Abueva and rookie Jerome Lastimosa also contributed 18 markers each for the Hotshots.
Barroca beat the final buzzer with a trey that summed up Magnolia’s fate in this game—too little, too late.
