The Ynares Center floor in Antipolo was humid and loud on Sunday evening, and by the second quarter the noise had thinned into the nervous hum that usually means a game is about to turn. TNT Tropang 5G vs Magnolia Hotshots was tied at 31-all after a KJ Buffen jumper, and neither side had found a grip on the other.
Then TNT closed the half on an 11-2 run and went to the locker room up 42-33. That was the whole story of Game 1 of their PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinal, which the Tropang 5G won 92-70.
TNT Tropang 5G quarterfinal opener: the 11-2 close that broke it open
The stretch before halftime was the hinge. TNT had been trading baskets with Magnolia for most of the first two quarters, and the tie at 31-all came off Buffen's jumper with the Hotshots looking settled.
What followed was an 11-2 burst to end the second period, and the tone carried straight into the second half. TNT clamped down on defense while keeping pressure on the offensive end, and the lead swelled to as much as 25 points at 86-61 after a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson layup.
Magnolia never produced the run needed to make the last quarter interesting. The final margin of 22 was the largest gap of the night, and it arrived without any late drama.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson sets the tone for TNT
Hollis-Jefferson stuffed the sheet with 26 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals, the kind of line that reads as scoring but functions as control. He was the constant while TNT built the lead, and his layup capped the biggest surge of the game.
Calvin Oftana added 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double, while RR Pogoy and Rey Nambatac contributed 12 points apiece. Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser chipped in 11 markers off the TNT rotation.
TNT shot 44.9% from the field as a team, a number that undersells how comfortably the Tropang 5G generated looks once the game opened up in the third quarter.
Magnolia's KJ Buffen and Zav Lucero get little support
Buffen paced the Hotshots with 18 points and nine rebounds, and Zav Lucero pitched in 14 points, 10 boards, an assist, a steal and a block. Mark Barroca added 11 markers.
That trio accounted for the bulk of Magnolia's production, and the Hotshots had no counter once TNT's defense tightened after halftime. The 70-point output was the problem: Magnolia could not keep pace once the Tropang 5G turned a two-point game into a two-possession game and then a blowout.
Game 2 arrives Wednesday at the same Antipolo venue
The series stays at the Ynares Center, with Game 2 set for Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. Magnolia has two days to find answers against a TNT defense that smothered it for the final three quarters.
For the Tropang 5G, the task is simpler and harder at once: repeat the defensive pressure that turned a tied game into a rout, and avoid giving the Hotshots the early confidence they briefly held on Sunday.
The original report on this game appeared on philstar.com.
