PBA: Tenacious Talk 'N Text pounds Powerade, improves to 5-1

The Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters showed grit in coming from behind early and fended off repeated Powerade Tigers rallies late, dispatching them anew Wednesday night in the PBA Commissioner's Cup, 111-97 at the Araneta Coliseum.   The Tropang Texters are the reigning Commissioner's Cup champs and they defeated the Tigers last month in the Finals, on-route to back-to-back All-Filipino Cup titles. And just like in that series, Talk 'N Text's overwhelming depth proved to be the key in this game.   Powerade romped out to a 7-0 start, but TNT came roaring back, and were on top by the end of the first quarter, 26-23.   A triple by Rudy Lingganay knotted the match at 33-all, but last conference's Finals MVP Larry Fonacier countered with a trey of his own, restoring his side's lead, which they held on to for the rest of the half, going into the break up 56-46.

The Tigers started the third quarter like they did the first, on fire, breaking out to a 9-0 blast to get within one after twin shots from Sean Anthony, 56-55. Gary David then gave Powerade a slim edge, nailing a triple in transition to tie things at 60-each, and then converting on an and-one play, 64-63.   Looking to quickly go back on top, the Texters turned to Jared Dillinger, who responded in kind, giving them back the lead, 71-70, just under two minutes left in the period, and then draining a long shot of his own near the end of the third, to put TNT up once more, 77-72.   Powerade's last gasp came when Marcio Lassiter scored two in a row to make it 81-81, but three treys by Fonacier, plus another one by Jayson Castro, blew Powerade out of the water, 97-85 and the Tigers couldn't muster another rally, bowing out from that point on.   Dillinger led Talk 'N Text with 28 points on 10 of 22 shooting, hitting five from downtown. Larry Fonacier added 17 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting, while Jimmy Alapag notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 dimes.   Talk 'N Text dominated the glass, 59-46, 18-12 on the offensive boards, which gave the Tropang Texters a 16-5 advantage in second-chance points.   Gary David led the Tigers, albeit with a conference-low 20 points. Dwayne Jones added 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Sean Anthony and 2011 first overall draft pick Jvee Casio had 13 markers each.   The Tropang Texters improved to a league best 5-1 mark in the standings, while the Tigers evened their record at 3-3. - AMD/OMG, GMA News     The scores   TALK N ' TEXT 111 - Dillinger 28, Fonacier 17, Alapag 15, Harvey 12, Castro 12, De Ocampo 8, Aguilar 6, Williams 6, Gamalinda 5, Reyes 2, Carey 0.   POWERADE 97 - David 20, Jones 19, Anthony 13, Casio 13, Lassiter 12, Kramer 6, Lingganay 4, Vanlandingham 3, Allera 3, Calimag 2, Adducul 2, Cruz 0.   Quarter scoring: 26-23, 56-46, 77-72, 111-97