MANILA, Philippines — The TNT Tropang Giga bucked the absence of Jayson Castro in the endgame to claim a pivotal 3-2 series lead over the San Miguel Beermen after winning Game Five, 102-93, in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.
As Castro exited the game after suffering a sprain early in the third quarter, Mikey Williams and Kelly Williams stepped up on offense to help TNT move one win away from successfully defending their title.
Kelly converted on the dagger 3-pointer to push TNT's lead to nine, 100-91, with 1:06 left in the clock.
The game was tit-for-tat until late in the third period where nine unanswered points — spearheaded by back-to-back triples by Mikey — put TNT on top, 82-74, with 38 seconds left in the quarter.
That put enough breathing space for the Tropang Giga to keep the Beermen at bay. TNT's defense also resulted in a lot of missed opportunities for SMB.
Mikey and Kelly paced TNT with 23 and 21 markers, respectively. The latter also added nine rebounds to flirt with the double-double.
JP Erram added 17 markers off the bench while RR Pogoy finished with 14 points.
June Mar Fajardo led SMB in the loss with a double-double of 20 points and 16 rebounds.
TNT will look for the close out in Game Six on Friday, September 2, at the same venue.