THE NLEX Road Warriors rallied from 27 points down but faltered in the end as the Talk N Text Tropang Texters escaped with a scrambling 85-80 triumph yesterday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
This allowed the Tropang Texters to pick up their third win in seven games in the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioners’ Cup.
David Simon topscored for 23 points and hauled down 16 rebounds in leading the Tropang Texters to their second consecutive win after three straight losses.
With the victory TNT (3 wins, 4 losses) climbed to a tie at eighth place with the Road Warriors (3-4) and the Star Hotshots (3-4).
The Alaska Aces (5-1) are alone at the top of the standings. Trailing them are the Meralco Bolts (5-2), the San Miguel Beermen (3-2), the Blackwater Elite (3-3), Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (3-3), the Mahindra Enforcers (3-3) and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (3-3).
At the bottom of the standings are the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (2-4) and the GlobalPort Batang Pier (2-5).
Matt Rosser had nine points for the Tropang Texters. He led a 13-0 run in the start of the game, scoring five points in the initial five minutes of the game.
They went on to post a 24-2 spread off Ryan Reyes’ three-pointer with 4:09 left.
The Tropang Texters went on to post a 27-point lead, 42-15, in the remaining 9:05 of the second period off Simon’s rim-rattling dunk.
But the Road Warriors did not just give up. They managed to find the right moment to come back.
First, Garvo Lanete struck twice in the closing minutes of the third, with his charity and jumper capping a big rally which allowed the Road Warriors to threaten, 61-67.
The Road Warriors then bungled their chances to overtake the Tropang Texters. Simon completed a three-point play to help TNT stay ahead by six points, 84-78, in the remaining 1:07.
The Tropang Texters managed to keep their lead after Al Thornton and Asi Taulava split their charities, 80-84, in the last 52 seconds.
The Tropang Texters played without superstar Jayson Castro after an old Achilles injury reemerged when he took a wrong step in the team’s 96-88 loss to Star last week.
