MANILA – Jayson Castro gave TNT a much-needed lift in the final period.
KaTropa maintained its unblemished slate in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup by defeating Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings 96-92 last night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With usual stars Terrence Romeo, Jeremy Tyler and Jericho Cruz combining for just 10 points, Castro came off the bench with 27 points, including three 3-point hits, for KaTropa.
Roger Pogoy and Jeth Troy Rosario contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Celedonio Trollano had 11 markers. TNT tied with Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on top (3-0).
In the first game, Matthew Wright made the go-ahead triple as Phoenix Fuel Masters scored a come-from-behind 89-87 victory over the conference-debuting Magnolia Hotshots.
After seeing their 9-point lead erased midway in the fourth period, Castro carried the scoring for KaTropa with back-to-back triples for an 87-79 lead on an outside hit by Rosario.
Kings made its last run to come to within 84-89. Rosario and Pogoy answered with 4 straight points for a 91-84 edge before Kings closed the gap for a 4-point margin on back-to-back triples by LA Tenorio.
Aguilar and Negrense Joe Devance scored 19 each while import Charles Garcia was unimpressive anew with 15 points and nine rebounds for Kings (0-2).
In the earlier match, Fuel Masters – trailing 87-86 with 10 seconds left in the game – surged with a Wright triple after losing Hotshots’ Rafael Reavis on a nasty step back move. Wright raised the lead with a technical free throw with 3.2 ticks left.
Wright and import James White led with 19 points apiece while William Wilson chipped in conference-high 17 points for Fuel Masters, which tallied its first win over Hotshots since entering the league in 2016.
Vernon Macklin finished with double-double 25 points and 17 rebounds while Paul Lee contributed 20, including five 3-point conversions, for Hotshots (0-1)./PN
