Texters play defense, rout Batang Pier

MANILA, Philippines - Talk n Text went on full throttle in the second half and smothered Globalport’s tough challenge early on in an emphatic 99-79 victory to close in on pacesetting Alaska Milk in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Tropang Texters stepped up both offensively and defensively in the last two quarters, breaking away from a close game en route to their second straight win after losing their conference debut versus the Meralco Bolts.

The Philippine Cup three-peat champs neutralized in particular their former teammate Japeth Aguilar, holding him down to four points after averaging 15.6 in their first three games.

Keith Benson and his teammates limited the whole Globalport team to 34 in the second half as the Texters dealt the Batang Pier a second loss in four starts in the mid-season tourney.

“We’re able to accomplish some of the things we wanted to do. After our last game, we’re dead last on defense, and I reminded the team of that,” said Talk n Text coach Norman Black.

The Texters responded by putting in their best defensive effort in a game in this conference. In their first two games, they yielded an average of 91 points to their opponents.

“We knew it’s a big test for us and we wanted to give ourselves a good chance of winning. We wanted to go out and keep up with the leaders,” said Black.

Benson, Jayson Castro, Jimmy Alapag, Jared Dillinger and Larry Fonacier led their charge on the offensive end as the Texters seized control in the third period and dominated the Batang Pier in the final canto.

The Texters enjoyed their first double-digit spread at 70-60 late in the third, then pressed their bid further to win the game with plenty to spare.

Benson came through with a huge double-double with 20 points and 19 rebounds and added five blocks, one assist and one steal in 37 minutes of action.

Justin Williams played with much energy but wasn’t of much help with a  9-of-17 shooting from the stripe.

Petron Blaze established a huge 22-point bulge through the first three quarters then stopped playing and needed a defensive stop in the dying seconds to salvage an 88-86 nail-biter over Meralco in the nightcap.

“(It was) an ugly game for us obviously but I take the win. Our goal coming into the first two weeks was 3-1, and we got it,” said Petron coach Olsen Racela.

Castro, Alapag, Dillinger and Fonacier contributed double-digit outputs while Rabeh Al-Hussaini put in seven rebounds, six points and two assists in his first meeting with his former team.

Aguilar was a non-factor with a 1-of-8 field shooting.

“We started with a small defender (Ryan Reyes) on Japeth. Ryan limited his dribbling and that slowed him down,” said Black.  

The Batang Pier set the pace early on before the Texters started the second period with an 8-0 roll and surged ahead at 31-27.

Fonacier, Alapag and Castro combined for 5-of-10 three-point shooting as the Texters took the half at 49-45.