Tropang Texters end 6-year title drought

THIS is one championship Talk N Text will not let slip away.

Not when the Tropang Texters gutted it out over the Alaska Aces for a 93-89 victory Wednesday and cop the KFC PBA Philippine Cup crown at the packed Araneta Coliseum.

The Texters' tritty stand was nowhere more evident than in the last 2:36 of the game where they held the Aces scoreless after the latter came charging back from as much as a 63-76 deficit.

Only after Willie Miller's last desperate heave of a troiple missed just before the final buzzer, the multi-colored balloons wafted down from the rafters and the real merry-making began.

In all, TNT bagged its second crown after its 2003 All-Filipino conquest and reinforced coach Chot Reyes' decision not to give up coaching after failing miserably in the FIBA-Asia championship in Tokushima, Japan in 2007.

“I felt I let the country down in Japan, so back then I wanted to take a break in coaching,”

Reyes related. “So for me, this is validation I made the right decvision and it reinforces my love of the game, what I do in my profession. Somewhat this erases the pain of that Tokushima debacle.”

In the process, Reyes became the first coach to win three All-Filipino titles with three different teams. He earlier won with Purefoods and Coca-Cola. It was also his fifth title.

The 4-3 victory in the best-of-seven Finals was made sweeter when Mac-Mac Cardona was adjudged the PBA Press Corps' Mighty Bond Finals MVP after stressing his status as the Finals' leading scorer with a gamehigh 23 points. He also had two rebounds and as many assists and steals.

Jason Castro was foremost among those who backstopped, belying his rookie status with 19 points, eight rebounds, as many assists and two steals.

“I thought before the game that If we get solid games from Jason and Yancy (de Ocampo), we have great chances of winning,” said Reyes. “We didn't get much from Yancy, but Jason is a big-game player.”

Willie Miller led Alaska with 22 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, while four other players chipped in at least 10 points each, including Joe Devance's 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Best Player of the Conference's misses were the costliest, coming as they did in the final 16 seconds of the game and the Aces only behind by 89-91. After missing only 9 out of his 28 previous free throw attempts in the finals, the BPC muffed two.

In the ensuing scramble, the Aces got a new lease on life when Ali Peek touched the ball last off the baseline. But the foul-baiting Miller totally missed a tight baseline drive and the Aces were forced to give their last affordable foul, 4.3 seconds to go.

Hastily fouled by Tony dela Cruz, Jimmy Alapag atoned for a miserable night by sinking two charities and the sigh of relief finally escaped TNT and its legions of supporters.

Cardona's triple gave TNT its biggest lead at 76-63, 10:53 to go in the game, the bulge somewhat helping give the Texters some comfort level in the face of Alaska's Reynel Hugnatan-led comeback.

Hugnatan, averaging 8.8 points per game in the Finals, scored 13 of his 17 points, rallying the Aces back to an 84-all tie forged by Devance's three-point play.

“We kept talking about it,” said Reyes. “Alaska will come back and any lead is nothing. And because we talked about it, we didn't panic. “

Two more deadlocks ensued after that, the last at 89 on a Ranidel de Ocampo short stab, before Harvey Carey's baseline jumper gave TNT the lead for good at 91-89, 1:29 to go.

Both teams actually tried to bring the ball strong to the hoop, but TNT had more success as it spread out Alaska's defense more with some nifty perimeter shooting.

An 8-0 run, capped by Castro's layup, gave the Texters a 71-60 lead, 2:32 to go in the third period, before they went into the fourth with a 73-63 spread.

The Texters' starting backcourt duo of Alapag and Cardona actually started out slow, combining for 1-of-6 as against the 5-for-8 by Miller and LA Tenorio in the opening period.

But once Cardona heated up and the likes of Castro and Ren-Ren Ritualo chipped in their share, they still managed to take a 47-41 lead into the halftime break.

What helped give TNT its lead, which even stood at 43-32, was its 10 second chance points off 11 offensive rebounds. Alaska's shooting also went south after opening up with a 10—of-19 (52.6 percent) clip from the floor, missing 15 of 21 tries in the second quarter.

Helping Cardona concentrate on the game was the fact Reyes forwarded him a text by Alaska coach Tim Cone apologizing for statements he made regarding the player's earlier taunts against the Aces.

“Kinamayan ko din after the game,” said Cardona, who said he looked at Cone's words as a form of prod.

“Mas na-motivate pa nga ako,” he said, before adding with a mischievous look: “Nagpapansin lang naman ako, e. Pinansin naman ako ni Tim Cone.”

The scores:

Talk ‘N Text 93 – Cardona 23, Castro 19, de Ocampo R. 12, Alapag 10, Peek 10, Ritualo 9, Carey 7, de Ocampo 2, Dillinger 1, Aljamal 0.

Alaska 89 – Miller 22, Hugnatan 17, Devance 14, Tenorio 10, Fonacier 10, Ferriols 6, Thoss 4, dela Cruz 4, Cariaso 2.

Quarters: 20-23, 47-41, 73-63, 93-89.


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