MANILA, Philippines - The TNT Tropang Texters caught the tournament’s top offensive team on a horrendous shooting night and cruised past the Rain or Shine E-Painters, 95-85, last night to enhance their bid for a Top Six finish in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Tropang Texters pounced on the E-Painters’ early struggle coming off a weeklong rest to fashion out the lopsided win that gave them a share of fourth place with the Globalport Batang Pier at 5-3.
Rain or Shine hardly got into the game with an atrocious 37-percent shooting that had the team tumbling to a second loss in eight games.
Joint leaders Alaska Milk (7-1) and San Miguel Beer (7-1) thus stretched to full game their lead over Rain or Shine in their spirited fight for the Top Two spots and outright Final Four entry.
Before the match, Rain or Shine led the league with an average of 103 points on 46.1 percent shooting.
But against the Texters, the E-Painters went without a field goal in the first six minutes and missed their first 21 three-point attempts before finally knocking in one with time down to four minutes. They compounded their woes with 21 turnovers.
In pounding the E-Painters’ woeful shooting, the Texters opened the game with a 17 unanswered points and dominated all throughout in a big comeback from a 98-105 overtime loss to the Barako Bull Energy the last time out.
Top rookies Moala Tautuaa and Troy Rosario fired 27 points and 19 points, respectively, to lead the Texters in their ghastly rout of the E-Painters.
Earlier, Mark Barroca and Alex Mallari produced season-best outputs and gave the Star Hotshots a strong finish en route to a 104-96 win over the Mahindra Enforcers.
Barroca and Mallari combined for 46 points, including the biggest buckets at endgame lifting the Hotshots to a first win in their last five games.
Victories by Barangay Ginebra over Blackwater Saturday and by Star over Mahindra paved the way for the automatic playoff passage by Talk n Text, Barako Bull and NLEX, joining early qualifiers Alaska Milk, San Miguel Beer, Rain or Shine, Globalport and Barangay Ginebra.
Star (3-6), Mahindra (2-7), Blackwater (1-7) and Meralco (1-8) are left to slug it out for the two remaining spots in the post-elims play.
“It’s just nice to get a victory again. It’s been awhile. Credit goes to the commitment of the players to use their God-given talent,” said Star coach Jason Webb.
“In our last four games, there are games that could’ve gone our way. But as testament to the competitive balance of this league, sometimes even when you give your best, it’s not enough,” Webb also said.
Against the Enforcers, game-long brilliance of Barroca and Mallari got the Hotshots out of the rut.
The Hotshots were down by three, 91-94, when Barroca and Mallari teamed up in one big play after another in a big windup saving the team from another letdown.
Barroca finished with 26 points, including 4-of-5 triples while Mallari ended up with 20 markers laced with two treys.
Aldrech Ramos and Karl Dehesa also came out with their guns ablaze but ran out of ammunition in the crunch.
The Hotshots repulsed the Enforcers with a 13-2 closing run in the last 2:41 of play.