By REYNALD MAGALLON
The trio of Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Jordan Heading and Glenn Khobuntin picked up the mantle for the injury-riddled TNT, steering the Tropang 5G to a big 108-92 Game 4 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinals at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, July 2.
With Kelly Williams joining Jayson Castro, Rey Nambatac, and RR Pogoy in sickbay, the trio presided over a scintillating second half show to help the Tropang 5G move on cusp of a third straight finals appearance.
TNT also kept the trend of beating Rain or Shine in Game 4 after dropping Game 3 to take a 3-1 lead – a pattern that has been the case through their first two semis meetings in the Governors’ and Commissioners’ Cup.
Ganuelas-Rosser posted 22 points and 11 rebounds while Khobuntin fired 11 of his 16 points in the third frame where they joined hands to lead TNT to a huge 39-point explosion in the third frame – an offensive thrust which they did even with Calvin Oftana riding the bench.
That turned a once six-point deficit at halftime, 41-47, into an 11-point cushion, 80-69, in the final frame.
Heading then took over from there and dropped 13 of his team-high 23 points to take the fight out of the Elasto Painters who still failed to break the Game 4 curse that befell the team in their third semis matchup against the Tropang 5G.
The lefty gunner added five rebounds and six assists to his name to step up for Oftana, who finished with 16 points before exiting the contest in the final frame due to an ankle sprain. The shock troopers also made their presence felt with JP Erram, Henry Galinato Jr. and Brian Heruela all providing quality minutes for the TNT.
Meanwhile, San Miguel drew even anew after routing Ginebra, 107-82.
June Mar Fajardo, continuing to play through a calf injury, posted a double-double of 12 points, 19 rebounds to go with three assists, two steals and a block while his frontcourt partner Brondial had 12 – seven of which he scored during the telling SMB rally in the third.
CJ Perez finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Juami Tiongson fired 14 points built on four triples to lead SMBs 14 three-point conversions after only shooting a measly 3-of-28 last time out.
Jericho Cruz had 12, Don Trollano with 11 and Jeron Teng, who was a spark off the bench, had nine for the Beermen who regained their offensive thrust after struggling late in the loss in Game 3.
SMB was even trailing by two, 56-58, when it started tearing the game apart with Fajardo, Brondial, Tiongson and Cruz all conniving in the rally that gave the Beermen a 78-61 advantage.
