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| Asia's best pointguard lived up to the billing, as he almost equalled his career high in Antipolo (PBA Images) |
By Patrick Sutare
ANTIPOLO CITY- Jason Castro caught fire as he carried the TNT KaTropa roll past Phoenix, 136-124, on Saturday night at the Ynares Center to complete the cast of the PBA Governor’s Cup Semifinals.
"The Blur" exploded for 42 points behind five
triples while shooting above 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the
charity stripe.
Living up to the billing as the Best Point
Guard in all of Asia, Castro brought off all his bombs in just 27 minutes of play, frustrating every defender tasked to man him. The
output was just two points shy of his career high.
The topseeded KaTropa extends their impressive run
this conference, winning all but one of their 12 outings stretching back to the
eliminations. They are set to face sister team Meralco in a best-of-five
Semifinal series which commences on Tuesday night.
With a heavy import-reliant kind of
offense, evinced by Eugene Phelps’ 39 points and 17 rebounds, Phoenix struggled
to catch up with TNT, making them the last victim of the quarters to officially
mark the end of their season.
Asian reinforcement Lee
Gwan Hee had 24 markers, grabbed six boards and dished out three successful
passes in a losing effort. Cyrus Baguio and John Wilson were the only locals to
break into double-digit scoring with 10 apiece.
Apart from Castro, TNT got
its fair share from its usual guns. Michael Madanly put up 17 points, while
Ryan Reyes and Ranidel de Ocampo both contributed 16.
Interestingly, TNT import
Mychal Ammons tallied just seven points in five shot attempts.
The scores:
TNT 136 – Castro 42, Madanly 17, de Ocampo 16,
Reyes 16, Fonacier 13, Williams 12, Rosales 9, Ammons 7, Rosario 4, Ganuelas
–Rosser 0, Tautuaa 0, Nuyles 0
Phoenix 124 – Phelps 39, Lee 24, Baguio 10,
Wilson J. 10, Enciso 9, Lanete 9, Borboran 7, Urbiztondo 5, Hayes 4, Torres 3,
Cruz 2, Intal 2, Wilson W. 0, Pennisi 0, Buenafe 0
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