TNT Draws First Blood

Defending champions Talk N Text Tropang Texters had a seemingly easy Game 1 victory over upset-minded Powerade Tigers, 116-100. Point guard Jason Castro led the star-studded TNT with an all-around performance of 23 points along with 6 boards and 8 dimes. Hard working forward Sean Anthony carried the scoring duties with 23 points for the Powerade side, which missed the services of starting point guard Jayvee Casio due to injury.

Talk N Text showed why they are the defending champs early in the game. They posted double digit advantage and never looked back as early as the first quarter. With a clear lineup advantage, TNT had 6 players in double figure scoring. Jason Castro was almost unstoppable driving to the basket, creating his own shot or kicking to an open teammate. Coach Chot Reyes made a good job shuffling his talented players with no Texter logged more than 33 mins.

King Tiger Gary David struggled throughout the game and made only 5 of 15 from the field and zero 3pt made. He scored 19 points, his lowest so far in the 2011-12 Philippine Cup Playoffs. The Tigers offense was visibly terrible, greatly missing the orchestration of Casio. Rookie Marcio Lassiter also contributed 19 in a losing effort. Powerade actually shot well on the field with 42.3% but it was their defense that made the difference, allowing TNT 51.8% field goal shooting.

Scores:

TALK ‘N TEXT 116 – Castro, 23, Reyes 15, Dillinger 15, Fonacier 14, De Ocampo 14, Peek 13, Alapag 9, Aguilar 6, Carey 4, Williams 3, Gamalinda 0, Raymundo 0.

POWERADE 100 – Anthony 23, David 19, Lassiter 19, Lingganay 13, Kramer 12, Cruz 4, Antonio 3, Vanlandingham 3, Adducul 2, Crisano 2, Allera 0.

Quarterscores: 38-21, 68-52,96-81, 116-100