Tropang Texters take 2-0 lead vs Tigers

TALK ‘N Text overcame a Powerade squad that showed it deserves to be in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals as the Tropang Texters needed to play brilliantly for the whole 48 minutes to hammer out a 102-96 victory and take a 2-0 lead.

Jimmy Alapag and Jason Castro were their usual lethal selves for the Texters, who nearly blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead before pulling out all the stops in the final three minutes to prevail at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We still need to get two more (victories),” coach Chot Reyes told reporters later. “We can’t relax and we must keep our foot on the pedal against what I think would be Powerade’s mightiest fighback (in Game 3).”

Alapag finished with 23 points, with his biggest basket—his fifth triple—coming at the final 1:19 mark that gave the Texters a 99-93 lead.

Castro, who shared Finals MVP honors with Alapag last season, scattered 19 while being assigned as one of several players that tried to stop high-scoring Powerade superstar Gary David.

David got his 30 points and earned the ultimate praise from Reyes, who described his effort as the “Gary David special that I had the privilege of watching from courtside.”

“I just told the guys that we just have to withstand it,” Reyes said. “Gary got his 30 (points) but I felt we did a good job on the other players.”

Game 3 is scheduled tomorrow also at the Big Dome, and Reyes is hopeful that a piece of PBA history does not happen to him twice.

Reyes also had a similar 2-0 lead while coaching Coca-Cola in 2003, against Talk ‘N Text and Joel Banal, when the Tigers were looking to win the all-Filipino crown for the second straight season.

That Texters team didn’t yield a game after that and went on to win the first AFC for their franchise, which proved to be Talk ‘N Text’s last championship before team owner Manny V. Pangilinan came up with a stroke of brilliance by bringing Reyes in to coach in 2008.

David, after being held to a playoff low 19 points in a 100-116 Game 1 loss in Digos, Davao del Sur, last Saturday, already had 21 in the first half but the Tigers still trailed, 51-56.

JV Casio came back after not playing in the series opener and contributed 17 points. Inquirer