Veteran Texters crush youthful GlobalPort

Games today:

Araneta Coliseum

5:45 p.m.- Petron vs. Barako Bull

8:00 p.m.- Air21 vs. Alaska

THE battle-tested Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters gave the rookie-laden GlobalPort Batang Pier a neat lesson in basketball for an easy 106-93 win last night in the 39th PBA Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Firing on all cylinders, the Texters built early double-digit leads, closing the first quarter with a big 34-20 lead, and were never really threatened the rest of the way.

Talk ‘N Text, winner of the last three All-Filipino tournaments, tallied its first back-to-back wins in the conference to tie the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at third spot with three wins and one loss.

Larry Fonacier led six Texters in double figures with 17 points. Jimmy Alapag fired 17 and dished off six assists in his 500th game. He became the ninth player in league history to gather at least 3,000 assists.

Danny Seigle also had a fine debut for the Texters by tallying 13 points and seven rebounds.

Averaging 24.6 points a game going in to the match, explosive rookie Terrence Romeo managed just 16 points as GlobalPort absorbed its third loss in four games.

BOX SCORES

TALK ‘N TEXT (106) – Fonacier 18, Alapag 17, Seigle 13, Castro 12, Carey 11, Baclao 10, Williams 8, Poligrates 7, Anthony 5, De Ocampo 3, Celiz 2.

GLOBALPORT (93)- Washington 21, Romeo 16, Mercado 14, Chua 11, Garcia 7, Nabong 6, Salva 6, Belencion 4, Hayes 4, Lingganay 2, Menk 2../EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA