MANILA, Philippines — Titan Ultra pulled away from a tight first quarter as it claimed the scalp of defending champion TNT, 103-87 to secure its first win in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Ynares Center.
After falling behind by seven early in the opening period, the Giant Risers outscored the undermanned Tropang 5G, 53-33 to gain control of the game en route to snapping their three-game losing skid to start the conference.
Import Tirrell Brown delivered an all-around effort of 29 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to lead Titan Ultra .
“I challenged my players to commit, No. 1 on defense because for our last three games that we played, especially in our last game we played against NLEX, we really played bad defensively,” said Titan Ultra coach Renzy Bajar.
Coming off a 35-point beating at the hands of NLEX, Titan Ultra win marked its largest winning margin in its three-conference existence in the pro league.
Jerrick Balanza, John Bryan Sajonia and Joshua Munzon added 13 points apiece, while Aris Dionisio had 10 in a balanced scoring attack for the Giant Risers.
The Tropang 5G, who lost coach Chot Reyes after being ejected in the third quarter for incurring two technical fouls, missed injured key players Calvin Oftana, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Jayson Castro.
Darius Days led TNT with 21 points, while Kim Aurin and Roger Pogoy added 11 and 10.
