Depleted Talk ‘N Text whips Coca-Cola

Harvey Carey, Talk N Text’s leading rebounder, was out because of a sprained knee and Jared Dillinger played with a hurting rib. No problem for Talk N Text.

Mac Cardona and Jimmy Alapag combined for 56 points and the high-scoring backcourt duo more than made up for Talk 'N Text’s depleted line up as the Tropang Texters whipped the Coca-Cola Tigers, 103-94, in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday. Cardona finished with a tournament-high 35 points while Alapag contributed 21 as the Tropang Texters atoned from their previous loss Sunday night to Purefoods. The win was the third in five games for the Tropang Texters, who moved up to fifth place in the team standings. Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes, however, was far from satisfied with the win. “Coming to this game, we’re worried about not having Harvey and having a hurting Jared. It’s nice to get the W, but we’re far from satisfied with what we’ve achieved tonight," said Reyes. “When we lost to San Miguel and Purefoods, we were outrebounded by 44, so that’s my biggest concern tonight. But our see-saw campaign can be attributed to several things like when they took our win against Smart-Gilas, the ability of teams to scout us and the injuries that hampered the squad. But we knew prior to our campaign here, we knew that we’re far from being the team that won the championship last season," he added. Carey sat out the game while Dillinger was not 100 percent. But the void was ably filled up by the explosive games of possibly the deadliest guard combination in the PBA. Cardona had 25 of his total output in the second half. He had six in a 13-0 run by the Tropang Texters, who shattered a 61-all standoff and took their first sizeable lead, 74-61, 1:14 left in the third. Alapag, on the other hand, had 16 in the last 24 minutes of play, including a triple that gave the Tropang Texters their biggest lead, 93-78, 4:24 left. Reyes gave extra credit to Cardona, last season’s scoring leader, whom he described as an even better player now. “He knows when to pass now, and that created a lot more scoring opportunities for him because hindi mo na alam gagawin niya ngayon kung ipapasa or ititira eh," said Reyes. Cardona said he has borrowed something from Willie Miller’s playbook every time he is playing. “Madalas ko siyang panoorin and gusto kong i-pattern ang laro ko sa kanya," said Cardona. - GMANews.TV