UNDERMANNED TNT ESCAPES MACAU’S WRATH

MANILA, Philippines – TNT, missing five players, launched its title-redemption bid with a hard-earned 106-103 win over Macau in the PBA Governors’ Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Sunday.

The Tropang 5G withstood the Giant Pandas’ uprising inside the final three minutes despite missing five players, including three injured starters in Calvin Oftana, Poy Erram and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser.

Also absent were Jayson Castro and Kelly Williams, currently in the United States attending to a family matter.

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“Obviously, you can’t be satisfied with an ending like that but at the same time, we knew we were going to struggle,” TNT coach Chot Reyes said.

“Number one, kulang kami sa (we lacked) players. We’ve got three starters who are not playing. And number two, this is our first tune-up game. Hindi kami nakapag (We weren’t able to play) tune up in the off-season) because we opted to rest, recover. So this is the first time we played with our import, Darius Days, in an actual game,” he added.

Days had a decent debut despite a long layoff, notching 23 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Rey Nambatac helped fill the void with 23 points and six assists.

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Roger Pogoy added 21 points, with his third and last triple giving the Tropa a 101-83 lead.

Nambatac’s three-point play made it a 104-89 count going to the last 3:19 of play, but Macau suddenly unleashed a 12-0 run to close in to within 101-104, still 25.3 ticks left.

Free throws by Damien Chongqui even brought the Giant Pandas within 103-105 and they regained possession in the last 4.5 seconds off Nambatac’s charity split.

Xucheng Liu grabbed the defensive rebound, but heaved a very long shot that was wide and short.

De’Vondre Perry led all scorers with 36 points and 10 rebounds and Chongqui bounced back from an early ejection in a 124-149 loss to Converge on Friday with 24 points and eight dimes.

Kobey Lam and Ramon Cao each had 14 points, with the latter adding 12 boards, as Macau suffered its fourth loss in as many games.

The scores:

First Game

TNT 106 – Nambatac 23, Days 23, Pogoy 21, Khobuntin 11, Aurin 9, Quitevis 8, Galinato 4, Ferrer 3, Jalalon 2, Heading 2, Varilla 0, Enciso 0, Celzo 0.

MACAU 103 – Perry 36, Chongqui 24, Cao 14, Lam 14, Ma 8, Z. Zhang 3, Chao 2, Y. Zhang 2, Liu 0, Zhu 0.

Quarters: 25-21; 52-48; 80-67; 106-103 (PBA Media/PNA)

2026-07-19T20:58:51Z