Meralco played with a great sense of urgency to hand TNT a 97-89 beating and avoided a 0-3 series hole in the process in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinals on Friday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Chris Banchero and CJ Cansino led Meralco’s scoring attack with 18 points each. Chris Newsome added 17 points but hurt his knee during the waning minutes of the match.
The Bolts cut the Tropang 5G series lead at 2-1 and will look to send the series back to square one with another win when action shifts to the Mall of Asia Arena for Game 4.
The Meralco victory also spoiled TNT's special night after the Tropang 5G retired the franchise’s former superstar Ranidel de Ocampo's jersey number 33.
“Talk ‘N Text is a hard team. They have been manhandling us the last two games,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo, who expects active consultant Nenad Vucinic to be back on the bench come Sunday.
“Just everybody from the coaching staff to the players are coming together and try to make it harder for them.” RR Pogoy led TNT with 28 points while Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser added 14 and six rebounds. Guard Rey Nambatac chipped in 13 points before going down with an injury late in the game.