RONDAE Hollis Jefferson came to TNT's rescue once again.
The two-time Best Import awardee laced his 31-point, 11-rebound performance with the go-ahead basket in the last 67 seconds, enabling the Tropang Giga to eke out a 98-96 cliffhanger over Converge Saturday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Aside from Hollis-Jefferson's fallaway, TNT's all-around game also held strong in the remaining time that prevented Converge from launching a decent shot and also eluding the FiberXers' bid to use up their last two fouls inside the final 7.8 seconds.
The win, coming after the Tropa squeaked past Meralco via a 101-99 count on Hollis-Jefferson's clutch charities in the last 10 seconds, was their fourth straight that jacked their record to 4-2.
Winning coach Chot Reyes was simply glad his gamble of sending help to Converge's shooters paid off. "They are the best shooting team in the league. They are shooting the highest percentage so that was our main concern: How can we defend them and stay in front of them and force them to miss shots?" he offered.
Sponsored content: "I thought we did a really good job of it except because of all our helping it opened up for offensive rebounds," added Reyes.
Indeed, the FiberXers, personally goaded on by Pampanga governor and reportedly soon-to-be head coach Dennis "Delta" Pineda, had a 51-39 advantage in rebounding, including 18 off the offensive glass that resulted in a 23-14 margin on second chance points.
"As you can see in the stats they doubled their offensive rebounds and second chance points averages. That was the big problem, a huge gamble that we were grappling with the whole game because if we don't send help then their field goal shooting percentage is going to take effect," related Reyes.
"But if we send help then it opens us up for their offensive rebounding," added Reyes. "But, in the end, with a team like Converge you cannot stop everything. You have to give something up and, luckily, we were able to make those two crucial stops in the end."
It also didn't hurt TNT any that its 16 triples made offset Converge's whopping 58-22 advantage in points in the paint with Roger Pogoy accounting for five of those treys enroute to a 22-point game.
Sponsored content: Rey Nambatac chipped in 13 points and Calvin Oftana 12 as the Tropa emerged victor in a dogfight of a game that had 12 deadlocks and 18 lead changes.
After Oftana's second triple of the game pegged a 96-all deadlock, Cheick Diallo could have knotted the count, but ruined a 37-point, 15-rebound performance by muffing two free throws and failing to stymie Hollis-Jefferson's basket.
For the second straight game, Justine Baltazar scored a new conference-high 17 points on top of eight rebounds while Jordan Heading and Schonny Winston wound up with at least 11 points each as Converge saw its four-game winning streak cut short and fell to 6-3. (NC)
The Scores :
TNT 98 - Hollis-Jefferson 31, Pogoy 22, Nambatac 13, Oftana 12, Khobuntin 8, K.Williams 4, Aurin 3, Erram 3, Castro 2, Razon 0, Exciminiano 0, Galinato 0.
CONVERGE 96 - Diallo 37, Baltazar 17, Heading 12, Winston 11, Arana 9, Stockton 7, Racal 3, Santos 0, Delos Santos 0, Andrade 0, Nieto 0, Javillonar 0.
QUARTERS : 27-27, 46-44, 77-79, 98-96.
