B-Meg burns TNT
Games today
Araneta Coliseum
3:30 p.m.- Rain or Shine vs. Meralco
6:15 p.m.- Petron vs. Brgy. Ginebra
With top gun James Yap going down with a back spasm, the B-Meg Llamados had no choice but to rely more on import Marqus Blakely.
And the workhorse import did not disappoint.
Blakely tallied a solid double-double game to power the B-Meg Llamados to a hotly contested 94-91 win over archrivals Talk N Text Tropang Texters last night in the 37th PBA Governors Cup at the brand new Mall of Asia Arena.
Blakely coughed up 26 points, 20 rebounds and three blocked shots as the Llamados survived Yap’s early exit due to hurting back.
Aside from Yap, the Llamados also played without injured stars JC Intal and Joe De Vance.
With the Llamados playing without three key players, the Texters were quick to seize control and led by as many as 11 points early. Talk N Text had a 10-point lead at the half, 49-39, but couldn’t protect that lead and allowed the Llamados to tie the count at 67-all heading to the final period.
Talk N Text regained the upper-hand, 75-74 but Blakely nailed a three-pointer for an 77-75 B-Meg lead with 8:24 left.
Talk N Text, which lost to B-Meg in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals, moved ahead once again, 82-81 on a three-point play by Jason Castro in the final 6:52.
That proved to be Talk N Text’s last taste of the lead as Blakely nailed his second triple in the quarter as the Llamados went up, 84-82.
The Llamados took full control of the game as they strung four straight points to pad the lead to 88-82 with 4:43 left.
Aside from avenging their 89-82 loss to the Texters in the elimination round, the win also pushed the Llamados closer to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters with their seventh win in 10 games.
The Painters lead the standings with an 8-2 (win-loss) card.
The Texters fell to 5-4.
