SLR won over TNT

STA. Lucia Realty head coach Boyet Fernandez has a very good reason for making “Look for Kelly (Williams)” as his halftime order to his players.

With the reigning MVP leading the way, the rest of the defending champions followed and they had little trouble in fashioning out a runaway 117-96 win over erstwhile unbeaten co-leader Talk 'N Text Sunday in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The three-year pro scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, fuelling the Realtors' inexorable charge over the Tropang Texters, who had seemed invincible in notching convincing wins in their first two games.

“Even with Kelly struggling in the first half, I still told my players to look for him,” related Fernandez of his top player, who only shot 2-of-8 from the field in the first 24 minutes of play, one of his rare conversions a long jumper that was initially ruled as a three.

“I told them to focus on Kelly because as soon as he starts hitting his shots, then their defense has to collapse on him and it will free up our other guys.”

Williams also finished with 10 rebounds and five assists and drew immense support from his teammates, led by Nelbert Omolon's 24 points and seven rebounds, as the Realtors bounced back from a sorry 86-89 loss to Barangay Ginebra last Wednesday.

Mark Cardona had 19 points to lead TNT, which was thrown into defensive confusion in the face of SLR's Williams-led assault.

“It's nice to get a win against a very strong team like Talk 'N Text,” said Fernandez. “I think our defensive adjustment on their wings was the key.”

Fernandez was referring to the likes of Tropang Texters shooters Cardona, Jimmy Alapag, Renren Ritualo and rookie Jared Dillinger, who were left scraping for points in the face of the Realtors' quick-switching defense.

In contrast, four other SLR players scored in double figures, including Joseph Yeo, who notched 18 points, and Ryan Reyes, who scored his second straight double-double like Williams with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Talk 'N Text head coach Chot Reyes' charges actually scored more three-point shots 11-7, but six of those came in the first half, the same output by the Realtors in the second half.

Also, the Realtors' triples came at the more opportune times, like that by Yeo, which shattered the last deadlock at 63 and sparked a 12-4 run that gave them an eight-point lead going into the fourth period.

Clearly, however, it was Williams who ignited SLR's full resurgence with 12 third quarter points before ceding the stellar role to Omolon in the fourth quarter that had the latter scoring more than half of the entire TNT output of 29 points in the period with 15.

By then the tide was clearly in SLR's favor as TNT's shooters were often stifled and the team's sporadic points came mostly from inside the paint.

The Realtors, meanwhile, interspersed its set offense with some free-flowing stretches, resulting in several sprees that gave them as much as two 23-point leads, the last at 109-86, only 1:09 left.

“It was a matter of spacing and limiting their transition plays. But limiting their wingmen really helped us,” said Fernandez. (NCo)

The scores:

Sta. Lucia 117 - Williams 25, Omolon 24, Yeo 18, Gonzales 14, Reyes 13, Miranda 11, Espino 8, Daa 2, Aquino 2, Gregorio 0, Mendoza 0.

Talk ‘N Text 96 - Cardona 19, Castro 14, Alapag 14, Dillnger 11, Carey 10, Allado 10, Ritualo 8, De Ocampo 8, Aljamal 2, Reyes 0, Lao 0.

Quarterscores: 18-14, 36-37, 75-67, 117-96.