PLAIN and simple. Roger Pogoy doesn't want to see what has been a special season for TNT come to an abrupt season.
And so he willed himself and the Tropang 5G to battle back from a 13-point deficit and then survived a near endgame collapse to eke out a close 89-88 win over the Magnolia Hotshots to force a deciding game for a semifinals berth in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The gunner from Far Eastern University erupted for a game-high 30 points on 13-of-23 shooting from the field at the Philsports Arena.
Held scoreless in the first quarter, Pogoy went on a second half rampage by scoring 22 points and rallied his team back from a 50-37 deficit early in the third period.
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As the seventh seeded team, the Tropang 5G, champions in the first two conferences of Season 49, were practically fighting for dear life, and a loss would have meant seeing their grand slam bid go and see their season end as well.
Pogoy had other things in his mind.
"Yung mindset ko lang coming to this game is ayaw ko lang magpatalo, ayaw ko magbakasyon," he said.
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That's what the rest of the Tropang 5G's mentality as well, with big men Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Kelly Williams delivering clutch baskets in the homestretch to fend off the last-minute rally by the second-seeded Hotshots.
The two proud franchises duke it out one more time on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium for a place in the semifinals.(RG)
