GlobalPort Moves Up to 7th: Beats Struggling TNT

(Photo by the PBA Media Bureau)

The Batang  Pier take advantage of a TNT team who played their third game in a week.

As of this moment, there are 3 to 4 teams that are still Mathematically fighting for the final playoff spot in the PBA Philippine Cup. Two of them are the Talk N Text KaTropa and the GlobalPort Batang Pier. With the team standings all stacked up with teams close to one another in terms of their respective record, every win is crucial.

And true enough.

The win by the GlobalPort Batang Pier over the slumping Talk N Text KaTropa was proven to be a crucial one as a 99-84 victory by the Pido Jarencio-coached squad enabled GlobalPort to climb up into 7th place while the KaTropa, who played without Troy Rosario fell to 9th place with 4-6 record. Both squads will have one more game each in their respective schedules to finish the elimination round so this game was a must-win for both teams. Unfortunately, TNT was erratic all game long and the Batang Pier, who have to play the remainder of the Philippine Cup without the three-time scoring champion, Terrence Romeo- just took advantage of the KaTropa's struggles.

What happened? Below are the numbers behind GlobalPort's surprisingly dominant win:

34 Points in the First Quarter

One of the main reasons why GlobalPort got the win was the way they started the game. Pido Jarencio said that they knew that TNT was playing their 3rd game in a week so they wanted to be aggressive early on and that's exactly what they did. GlobalPort exploded for 34 points while limiting TNT to only 12 points- one of the lowest-scoring quarters TNT had this conference. That enabled the Batang Pier to keep the lead the rest of the game as the KaTropa could only get as close as 10 points.

Balanced Effort

Sure, Jayson Castro had 24 points while Kelly Williams had 21 to lead the KaTropa but the next guy down: RR Pogoy had 14 points on 5 for 14 field goal shooting. Harvey Carey added 10 points.

On the other hand, the Batang Pier had 6 players who scored in double figures led Nico Elorde's 17 points and followed by this conference's scoring leader, Stanley Pringle who had 16 points on 6 for 18 shooting. Bradwyn Guinto chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds while Yousef Taha had 11 points. Jonathan Grey and Kelly Nabong added 10 points each. Jeric Teng, whom the Batang Pier picked up from the free agency had 9 points in his first game after being reunited with his college coach. 

Overall Dominance

The numbers showed how dominant the Batang Pier were against the KaTropa:

• 67-50 advantage in the rebounds
• 22-12 advantage in total assists
• 11-8 in steals
• 30-13 in second-chance points
• 40-26 in bench points

Conclusion

With one more game in their schedule which happens to be against a fellow-MVP team, the NLEX Road Warriors, the odds are up against the KaTropa anew as they lost to the Batang Pier despite the fact that Terrence Romeo wasn't around. TNT must find a way to win if they still want a chance to make it to the playoffs.