Saudi Gazette MANILA — The Talk N Text Tropang Texters had some anxious moments before finally squeaking past the tough-as-nail NLEX Road Warriors, 90-88, on Saturday night to advance to the knockout phase of the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals. The sixth-seeded Texters thus arranged a sudden-death match against the third-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Monday, the winner of which will go up against the defending champion San Miguel Beermen in a best-of-seven semifinals. The contest was decided only in the last second when NLEX's Sean Anthony drove hard to the basket and released an off-balance shot that could have send the game into overtime. However, Anthony missed the difficult shot as time expired, as the Texters heaved a sigh of relief. Rookie Troy Rosario led the Texters with 20 points and six rebounds while veteran forward Danny Seigle stepped up in the absence of injured Ranidel de Ocampo, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Ryan Reyes added 12 points while Jayson Castro and Larry Fonacier chipped in 10 apiece. The two teams engaged in a fierce fight from the get-go, with several lead changes and deadlocked scores. With four minutes left and the score tied at 80-all, the Texters launched an 8-1 run sparked by a Castro three-pointer, to erect an 88-81 lead with two and a half minutes left. But the Road Warriors managed to cut TNT's lead to 90-87. After Castro uncharacteristically missed two free throws, Anthony split his charities to cut the deficit to two, 90-88, with 30 seconds remaining. After a defensive stop, the Road Warriors had a chance to force overtime but Anthony misfired as the final buzzer sounded, as the Road Warriors, which had a twice-to-win disadvantage, failed to force a deciding playoff game. Rain or Shine 95, Blackwater 90 The third-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters continued to play below their peak level but still had enough strength to get rid of the pesky tenth-seeded Blackwater Elite, 95-90, thus advancing to the second phase of the quarterfinals. Although the Painters led for nearly the entire game, they had trouble shaking off the Elite, who were playing their first playoff game in the league. The ROS victory came a week after the Painters suffered a monumental meltdown against NLEX, depriving them of an outright semifinals berth. Jeff Chan led the Painters with 17 points. JR Quinahan finished with 16 markers while Maverick Ahanmisi and Raymond Almazan added 11 apiece. ROS erected its biggest lead, 47-34, at the start of the third quarter, but couldn't finish off Blackwater. The Elite even knotted the score at 75-all on a Carlo Lastimosa basket, time down to 7:41. ROS' Gabe Norwood provided some sparks with a highlight-reel two-handed alley-oop slam. The shot appeared to fire up the Painters as they banged in crucial baskets and ratcheted up their defense, resulting to end-game turnovers by the Elite. The loss spoiled another monster performance by Lastimosa who poured 35 points, 31 of them in the second half when he nearly single-handedly tried to fight off the entire ROS team. Lastimosa's output nearly equalled his career-high 38 points against Barako Bull. Lastimosa, however, failed to get the support of his teammates as Blackwater followed Meralco, Mahindra, Barako Bull and Star to an early New Year vacation. Game Sunday: Barangay Ginebra Kings vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier (knockout quarterfinals).
