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| Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson completes the dunk off a steal. EASL |
STA. ROSA, Laguna--Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson turned out to be the right guy for the job as TNT finally notched its first win of the EASL season by drubbing Taipei Fubon, 80-69, on Wednesday night at the City of Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.
The older brother of the Tropang Giga's resident import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson shone in his first game in the Philippines as Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson finished with 22 points to backstop his younger brother, who led the reigning PBA Governors' Cup champions with 35.
TNT came alive in the second quarter, outscoring Taipei Fubon, 31-21, to take a 48-42 halftime lead.
The Braves slowed the pace down a bit in the third quarter to keep the game close, but the Tropang Giga held them to just 11 points in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson also had 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals, and three blocks for TNT, which moved up to 1-4 in Group A play.
Chris Johnson made 19 points, 20 rebounds, three assists, one block, and two steals, while Sedrick Barefield added 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals for Taipei Fubon, which fell to 1-3.
The scores
TNT (80) – Ro. Hollis-Jefferson 35, Ra. Hollis-Jefferson 22, Oftana 15, Khobuntin 6, Tolomia 2, Heruela 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Aurin 0, Galinato 0, Ponferrada 0, Cruz 0.
Taipei Fubon Braves (69) – Johnson 19, Barefield 15, Zaytsev 10, Fan 9, Chou 5, Guinchard 3, Hung 3, Smart 3, Jian 2, Wu 0, Tseng 0.
Quarterscores: 17-21; 48-42; 62-58; 80-69.
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