Talk N Text Tropang Texters vs Shopinas Clickers

MANILA, Philippines – Talk N' Text, thinking more of the Rain or Shine game on an out-of-town sortie this weekend, played its key players minimally but still hacked out a 96-83 rout of Shopinas.com to remain atop the heap in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum tonight.

Jason Castro and Japeth Aguilar fired 17 and 16 points, respectively, which proved enough as the Tropang Texters nailed their fifth victory in row and seventh overall in eight outings to remain on top.

More importantly, Talk N' Text got away from playing its other key players – Kelly Williams, Jared Dillinger and Larry Fonacier – minimally as it gears up for an interesting showdown with No. 2 Rain or Shine (7-2) in a Cagayan de Oro sortie on Saturday.

"The keys for us in this ballgame were, one, not take the other team lightly and not take them for granted and, two, we wanted to find a way for our key guys to get rested because we have a big game in Cagayan de Oro this Saturday against Rain or Shine," said Talk N' Text coach Chot Reyes.

"Rain or Shine is of course the toughest team in the league now. We know we're going to need our energy and stamina against them and it was good we were able to get a big lead and I was able to rest Kelly, Larry and Larry while keeping Jayson's minutes relatively low," he added.

Williams, Dillinger and Fonacier fired eight, eight and four points in just 20, 22 and 27 minutes, respectively.

Thankfully, Ranidel De Ocampo and Harvey Carey came off the bench by chipping in 10 points apiece to fill up the void.

The Clickers, who led in the first quarter, 17-13, drew strength from Jojo Duncil, Elmer Espiritu and Pong Escobal, who poured in 16, 13 and 13 points, respectively. But they just didn't have enough against the Tropang Texters' bench depth and fell to their 10th straight loss.

To top it off, Talk N' Text were missing some of its stars – Jimmy Alapag (foot), Rich Alvarez (hand), Ryan Reyes (MCL), Aaron Aban (ACL) and Ali Peek.

The Tropang Texters made their move in the second quarter when they turned a two-point lead to a 19-point advantage, 51-32, at the break when they outscored the Clickers, 32-15, in the period.

Castro exploded for 10 of his 13 first half points in the second canto while the highly athletic Aguilar, a former Smart Gilas standout, came through with six of his nine points in that pivotal quarter.

Shopinas.com came out with a lot of energy at the start of the game and dictated the tempo when it went up, 17-13, before Talk N' Text close out the period with a 6-0 blast that turned things around.

The scores:

TALK N' TEXT 96 – Castro 17, Aguilar 16, De Ocampo 10, Carey 10, Dillinger 8, Williams 8, Gamalinda 6, Oreta 5, Raymundo 4, Weinstein 4, Fonacier 4, Membrere 2, Lao 2.

SHOPINAS.COM 83 – Duncil 16, Espiritu 13, Escobal 13, Jazul 7, Sena 6, Menor 6, Hubalde 5, Sison 4, Aquino 4, Ritualo 4, Daa 3, Mirza 2, Canlas 0.

Quarters: 19-17, 51-32, 76-52, 96-83