For the fifth straight conference, the Talk N’ Text Tropang Texters will be playing for the championship.
The defending champions sealed another trip to the Finals with a, 101-90 beating of the Barako Bull Energy in their do-or-die Game 5 of their semifinal series of the 37th PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum, last night.
The Texters once again displayed the heart of a true champion, overcoming a 1-2 series deficit to win the best-of-three duel and forged a championship date with the B-Meg Llamados.
B-Meg advanced to the Finals by winning its own best-of-five semis battle against the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
By barging into the best-of-seven Finals, which will start on Monday, the Texters kept alive their hopes of achieving a rare grandslam.
Last season, the Texters won the Philippine Cup and Commissioner’s Cup titles but were denied a grandslam when they lost to the Petron Blaze Boosters in the Governor’s Cup Finals.
Import Donnel Harvey led the Texters’ rousing win by firing a game-high 29 points that went with his 14 rebounds.
Harvey was forced to sit out in the final 4:47 after committing his fifth foul but the Texters didn’t miss a beat and even started to build double-digit leads.
Talk N Text had a slim, 88-84 lead when Harvey left the court. Ranidel de Ocampo completed a split free throw and Jimmy Alapag hit a triple shortly after he was fielded as the Texters built a, 92-84 lead.
Alapag rode the bench for the large part of the game due to defensive mismatches.
Four straight points by Ronald Tubid saw the Energy threatening at, 88-92 with 3:03 to go but De Ocampo buried a three-pointer while being fouled by Danny Seigle.
De Ocampo made the bonus free throw to complete the rare four-point play and Alapag finished off the Energy with a break-away fastbreak layup, giving the Texters a commanding, 98-88 lead with only 1:50 left.
De Ocampo finished with 18 points, while Jared Dillinger and Jayson Castro added 14 each for the Texters.
Gabe Freeman topped the Energy with 22 points, Seigle had 21, while Ronald Tubid and Don Allado added 18 and 12, respectively.
BOX SCORES
TALK N’ TEXT (101)- Harvey 29, De Ocampo 18, Dillinger 14, Castro 14, Williams 9, Peek 7, Alapag 6, Fonacier 3, Reyes 1, Alavarez 0.
BARAKO (90)- Freeman 22, Seigle 21, Tubid 18, Allado 12, Miller 6, Salvador 4, Najorda 3, Arboleda 2, Pena 2, Weinstein 0, Pennisi 0. QUARTERSCORES: 25-27, 56-47, 77-74, 101-90.