By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

THE TNT KaTropa stayed in contention for a spot in the PBA Philippine Cup after defeating the NLEX Road Warriors, 101-75, in their final game of the elimination round yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Needing to win in the game to remain in the hunt for the quarterfinals of the season-opening Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) tournament, the KaTropa delivered accordingly in a big way, using a strong run in the first half and just held on the rest of the way to book their fifth win in 11 matches.

TNT initially fell behind 4-0 to begin the contest before getting its engine going, with Troy Rosario and Roger Pogoy leading the charge, to take a 27-16 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The KaTropa would sustain their strong level play in the second canto with contributions coming from all directions. They established their biggest lead of 30 at that point, 53-23, at the 2:37 mark of the period and eventually maintained the same distance, 58-28, by the halftime break.

NLEX tried to chip away on the huge lead of TNT to start the third quarter but the KaTropa did not allow their opponents to gain much ground as they made sure to stay on top of things, even building a 38-point separation, 69-31, four minutes into third canto.

The Road Warriors continued to fight, cutting down their deficit back to 30 points, 80-50, heading into the final 12 minutes of the match.

With victory evident, the KaTropa spent much of the payoff quarter preserving the control they had established.

NLEX trimmed TNT’s lead to 26 points, 90-64, halfway into the fourth quarter but that was the closest it would get back before slumping to the defeat.

Veteran Kelly Williams led the KaTropa with 17 points and 16 rebounds while new TNT player Jericho Cruz also had 17 markers.

Messrs. Rosario and Pogoy finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

JR Quiñahan, meanwhile, paced NLEX with 20 points with Kevin Alas adding 14.

“We knew going into this game that we needed a win to have a chance at getting in the playoffs and this is the one thing that we have control over and just need to wait for how the other teams would do. Hopefully by the end of the Friday schedule it will be clearer,” said TNT coach Nash Racela after their win.

At 5-6, the KaTropa at this point still has inside track for at least a playoff for a quarterfinal spot but are still at risk of missing out on the bus altogether if the quotient does not go their way in the event of multiple ties.

Still fighting for their quarterfinal lives along with TNT are the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (5-4), which had a game later yesterday, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings (5-5), GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-5), Blackwater Elite (5-6) and Phoenix Fuel Masters (4-6).

Final play date for the elimination round is tomorrow, March 2.

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