SOLID rookie Roger Pogoy continued to show his worth.
The sharpshooting neophyte hit the go-ahead basket and scored a game-high 24 points as TNT KaTropa escaped Blackwater, 92-89, in a competitive battle in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Tropang Texters listed their second victory and improved to 2-1, while the Elite fell to 0-4 at the bottom as it once again came up short of listing a win.
The game was tied at 87-apiece when Pogoy calmly sank the go-ahead jumper with 1:48 remaining to give TNT KaTropa the slight edge, 89-87.
Larry Fonacier followed that with a triple in the next possession to make it 92-87 for the Texters with around a minute left.
Blackwater gave itself a chance by coming to within just a single possession, 92-89, and it had its chance to tie, but the triple from newly acquired Nino Canaleta in the dying seconds didn’t find its mark.
New TNT import Dante Greene had a solid debut, scoring 22 points to further help his team capture the win.
The Elite was the one who started on fire, ending the opening quarter with a 14-2 blast to take a sizeable 27-15 gap early on.
However, TNT KaTropa bounced back right away in the second, outscoring Blackwater by 10 to trim the gap to just 39-41, in favor of the Elite, at the half and make it anyone’s game heading into the second half.
It was then neck-to-neck moving forward.
Blackwater played without star rookie Mac Belo, who is nursing a knee injury.
Canaleta debuted for the Elite after being acquired earlier this week in exchange for Dylan Ababou and James Forrester.
Blackwater hopes that Canaleta’s scoring prowess can help its cause with top stars Art Dela Cruz and Belo both out indefinitely with injuries.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra will finally make its tournament debut as it is set to clash with Phoenix (0-2) in an out-of-town bout.
The Gin Kings and the Fuel Masters, who will look to bounce back after suffering two straight setbacks, will meet at 5 p.m. at the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym.
The scores:
TNT 92 – Pogoy 24, Greene 22, Castro 13, Williams 11, De Ocampo 10, Rosario 4, Fonacier 3, Rosales 3, Reyes 2, Carey 0, Golla 0,
BLACKWATER 89 – Smith 22, Pascual 12, Buenafe 12, Sumang 9, Cruz 7, Pinto 7, Canaleta 6, Sena 4, Digregorio 4, Cervantes 4, Miranda 2, Gamalinda 0, Perez 0.
Quarters: 15-27, 39-41, 63-73, 92-89.