TNT makes it 1-1
With the litany of injuries that he has, Jayson Castro wasn’t even supposed to play. But the cat-quick guard made himself available and the hurting playmaker was the one who hurt the B-Meg Llamados the most in the Talk N Text Tropang Texters’s a 104-102 come-from-behind win last night in Game Two of the 27th PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best-of-Seven Finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
“Jayson is scheduled to undergo surgery because of three strained ligaments in his left ankle. In Game One, he also sprained his right ankle because he has been favoring that left ankle. He is far from 100 percent,” said Talk N Text Chot Reyes in a televised post-game interview.
In displaying a tremendous fighting spirit, Castro bucked a badly sprained ankle to score 23 points and bailed the Texters out of trouble in the endgame as the defending champions evened the series at two games apiece.
After winning Game One, 88-82, the Llamados felt that a crucial 2-0 series was just within reach when they took a, 99-94 lead on a Joe De Vance basket with 1:38 left.
It was then that Castro struck, scoring six straight points capped by a straight-away three-pointer that the put the Texters on top, 100-99 with 35.7 second remaining.
Talk N Text shot horribly from the free throw line in Game One where they missed 20 of their 36 attempts. In this game, the Texters fared better from the charity stripe but missed some crucial free throws down the stretch that nearly did them in.
After the Castro three-pointer, Bowles missed from the shaded lane and the Texters had the chance to put the game away but import Donnel Harvey flubbed two gift shots. Harvey made his first seven free throws before those misses.
B-Meg’s bungled another chance of regaining the lead when James Yap could hit the side of the board in base-line jumper with 15.8 seconds left.
Much to the chagrin of the entire Talk N Text squad, Kelly Williams missed his own pair of free throws.
Bowles prevailed in a mad scramble for the ball but threw an errant pass that was intercepted by Harvey.
With time almost running out, the Llamados were forced to four Ryan Reyes, who gave the Texters a huge sigh of relief when he made his two charities, giving his team a 102-99 lead with 8.2 seconds left.
In B-Meg’s possession, the Texters intentionally fouled Bowles and the gamble paid off as the hulking import only made one of his free throws.
Jimmy Alapag finally iced the win for the Texters with two made throws before Bowles capped the scoring with a buzzer-beating jumper.
Harvey scored a game-high 29 points for the texters, who went 31-for-43 from the free throw line.
Bowles led the Llamados with 33 points, while Yap had 25 markers spiked by five trifectas.
