MANILA — Bouncing back from a bitter loss in their last game against the Alaska Aces, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters vented their fury at the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, winning massively, 99-76, on Sunday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. With last Tuesday's fourth quarter meltdown against the Aces still fresh in their minds, the Texters made sure there would be no repeat of that as they pushed an 11-point halftime lead to as high as 25 points in the third quarter, never relaxing their grip on the hapless Painters until the final buzzer sounded. With the win, TNT tied Rain or Shine at sixth to seventh spot in the standings, both with a 2-2 win-loss card. FIBA veteran Ranidel de Ocampo led the Texters with 20 points while rookie Kevin Alas played his best game yet in the conference, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists. The duo combined for 14 points in TNT's 20-7 third quarter run. Alas put on a show against Rain or Shine, the team that traded him in the offseason after making him the No. 2 pick overall. Jay Washington added 18 points while Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Harvey Carey chipped in 11 and 10 markers respectively for TNT. Jeffrei Chan led the Painters with 14 points. San Miguel 103, Barako Bull 89 With two of their big men out on injuries, the San Miguel Beermen needed late-game heroics from Arwind Santos, June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter to turn back a win-less but fierce-fighting Barako Bull Energy, 103-89. The Beermen thus tied the Alaska Aces at the top of the standings with their third straight win. But what was expected to be a breeze for SMB turned into a storm as the underdog Energy fought furiously and were even on top of the Beermen for most parts of the contest. With SMB's Doug Kramer (sprained ankle) and Rico Maierhofer (knee contusion) unable to play, Santos picked up the cudgels and scored a game-high 27 points on a near-perfect 9-of-10 shooting from the field on top of seven rebounds. The 6'10” current MVP Fajardo backed up the former league MVP with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Lassiter added 20 markers. The Energy enjoyed a 47-43 lead at halftime. The Beermen started pouring on the points in the third quarter, leading by as many as 12 points after a 22-6 blast in the first nine minutes of the period. But Barako Bull came charging back in the final quarter as Denok Miranda and Jeric Fortuna torched the net with a flurry of baskets. The Energy were down by just a basket, 89-87, with 1:43 left in the game when the SMB trio of Santos, Fajardo and Lassiter sparked a game-changing 14-2 run to send the Energy reeling to their third straight defeat. Miranda led Barako Bull with 17 points, while JC Intal and Carlo Lastimosa added 12 each. A bruising dogfight is expected on Wednesday as San Miguel and Alaska, the only two undefeated teams in the conference, square off in the main match.
Games Tuesday: Kia Sorento vs. GlobalPort Batang Pier and Barangay San Miguel Kings vs. Blackwater Elite.
