MANILA – TNT KaTropa locked in on the No. 3 spot in the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs with a 100-85 domination over Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Joshua Smith led the way with double-double 25 points and 13 rebounds while Troy Rosario and Ryan Reyes added 19 and 12 markers, respectively, for KaTropa, which ended the eliminations with a 8-3 card.
In the second game, Magnolia Hotshots came up huge in the fourth period to take down the defending champion San Miguel Beermen 101-97 for its second straight win heading into the playoffs.
Holding to a slim 24-20 lead after one quarter, KaTropa rode on the shoulders of Smith and the outside sniping of its local crew to pull to a 47-39 halftime lead.
After Painters trimmed the deficit to 5 early in the second half, KaTropa got its shooting going anew from Rosario, Roger Pogoy and Anthony Semerad for its largest lead in the match 76-58.
“Whether it’s No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5, it does not matter to us as long as we make it to the best-of-three playoffs,” said KaTropa head coach Nash Racela. “This is way better than our campaign last conference.”
Reginald Johnson finished with 12 points, Chris Tiu had 11 markers, while James Yap and Maverick Ahanmisi had 10 each for Painters, who still got a league-leading 9-2 card even after its six-game run was snapped.
In the next game, Hotshots unloaded a huge 12-4 scoring run behind 3-point conversions by Andy Mark Barroca and Justin Melton to escape a 78-all deadlock and advance 90-82.
Beermen rallied to within 3 points several times but baskets from Paul Lee and Wayne Chism and another outside hit from Barroca extended Hotshots’ lead anew 101-94.
Chism made double-double 21 points and 15 rebounds while Lee and Ian Sangalang had 14 each for the No. 7 Hotshots, which will have a twice-to-win disadvantage over No. 2 Alaska Aces in the quarterfinals./PN
