By REYNALD MAGALLON
He may not be as fast and quick as before but Jayson Castro definitely still has the nerves to deliver when it matters the most.
The former Best Point Guard of Asia played the hero’s role once again, coming through with a buzzer-beating jumper to lift TNT to a wild 86-84 win over San Miguel Beer in Game 1 of their best-of-seven 2022 PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, Aug. 21.
The series was good as advertised as its curtain raiser boiled down to the final 1.6 seconds of the game that saw Castro manage to launch the desperation just before the final buzzer sounded despite the tough challenge from Simon Enciso to break an 84-all deadlock.
While TNT players – and their supporters – erupted in sheer delight, the Beermen and their loyalists protested, claiming the shot did not beat the buzzer.
The entire 8,548 fans in attendance were at the edge of their seats and collectively held their breath during a long, anxious waiting for the final announcements of the Coliseum announcer.
And when the announced did, TNT’s ‘yellow army’ celebrated wildly.
While Castro was cool and relaxed, his winning shot is latest highlight to his book of heroics.
That also saved the stellar performance from Mikey Williams and RR Pogoy who spearheaded a torrid third quarter assault from the Tropang Giga who overhauled a 49-37 halftime deficit.
Pogoy finished with 26 points, 10 of those he dropped in the third while Williams added 21, 12 of which also came in the same stretch that saw TNT outscore SMB 33-15, giving them 70-54 lead going into the payoff period.
“There were really two options there. There were some misdirections. There were two options but the key was No. 1 you got to get open and No. 2 you know that with 1.6 seconds, you have one more dribble. I think this is something we practice all the time with our practices so all our players know that,” said head coach Chot Reyes recalling he drew up for the final play for TNT.
“In the end, it’s great that Jayson made the shot but the better thing is we gave ourselves a chance and we gave ourselves a crack at it and the key was the stop we made in the previous possession,” he added.
The Beermen actually had the chance to create some separation in the final 28 seconds of the game but they came up dry on their execution as CJ Perez air-balled his three-point try which resulted in a 24-second shot clock violation.
June Mar Fajardo paced the SMB with a double-double of 24 points and 16 rebounds while Perez had 21 points across his name. No other Beerman however managed to break into the double-digit in scoring with Vic Manuel coming up as the third leading scorer with only nine.
The scores:
TNT 86 – Pogoy 26, M.Williams 21, Castro 15, Erram 9, Khobuntin 8, Reyes 6, Rosario 1, Montalbo 0, K.Williams 0, Marcelo 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
SAN MIGUEL 84 – Fajardo 24, Perez 21, Cruz 10, Tautuaa 6, Manuel 6, Lassiter 5, Brondial 4, Enciso 3, Ross 2.
QUARTERS: 16-21, 37-49, 70-64, 86-84.
