MANILA – TNT KaTropa ended Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings’ reign with a 103-92 victory in Game 4 of the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five quarterfinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Terrence Jones tallied triple-double 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while Jeth Troy Rosario and Jayson Castro added 22 and 20 markers, respectively.
The KaTropa wrapped up the series, 3-1.
It was also the KaTropa’s first PBA finals appearance since 2017 PBA Commissioner’s Cup and 18th overall as a franchise.
The team is also aiming for its first PBA title since 2015.
From a 32-all count after the first 12 minutes, the KaTropa struggled in the second and at the early part of the third canto where they trailed 67-58 after three free throws by Kings’ Justin Brownlee.
The KaTropa slowly clawed its way back behind Roger Pogoy, Castro and Jones for a 77-75 edge before pulling away at 84-75 with conversions from Brian Heruela and Jones.
The Kings was able to come to as close as six
in the fourth period but the KaTropa answered with shots from Pogoy, Castro and
Jones for its largest lead at 103-86 on a reverse shot from Rosario.
Brownlee finished the match with 27 points, nine
rebounds and eight assists while Japeth Aguilar also contributed 27 markers and
nine boards for the dethroned champions Kings./PN
