Rondae Hollis-Jefferson continued his dominance after leading on both ends in TNT‘s 84-82 narrow win over Magnolia in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The undermanned Tropang Giga, who were missing the services of guards Kim Aurin and Rey Nambatac, avoided a major collapse in the endgame to extend their streak to five and improve to 7-2 in Group A while the Hotshots fell to 4-4.
And carrying the load was Hollis-Jefferson, who erupted for 29 points, including four of the last six TNT points, while also grabbing 25 rebounds.
“We knew we would struggle tonight offensively because we don’t have two of our best outside shooters. That was the challenge for us, if we could find ways to score without our two top gunners,” TNT coach Chot Reyes said.
“The second challenge was their motor, their physicality.”
The win was decided in the final minutes with Paul Lee sinking a technical free throw to cut the deficit to just one, 76-75, in the final 3:06 of the fourth. But Hollis-Jefferson took over, burying two from the line before knocking down a floater over his counterpart Shabazz Muhammad to regain a five-point advantage.
But Magnolia turned to Paul Lee, who would nail a corner three over RR Pogoy with 19.2 ticks. Lee also forced a turnover against Hollis-Jefferson, but he lost hold of the leather that led to another pair of freebies from Jayson Castro to ice the game.
Pogoy led the local support with 19 points and five rebounds while Calvin Oftana and Castro poured in 10 and nine markers, respectively.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
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