Petron Rode On Danny Ildefonso To Beat TNT and To Grab A 3-1 Semis Advantage, Aiming To End The Series Tonight

Photo came from AKTV.

By: Kristina Caramel Sy

The Petron Blaze Boosters, once again, survived a breathtaking match against the Talk n Text Tropang Texters. The crowd erupted in the Big Dome as Danny Ildefonso once again turned back the hands of time and dominated the ball game and eventually led the Boosters to a 3-1 lead in the best of 7 semis series. The final score of the 4th game was 85-82. Thus, Petron will have a chance to wrap up the semis series tonight at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Danny Ildefonso, on his full tank performance, listed 22 points and 8 rebounds that helped and saved the Boosters against the Tropang Texters who were leading in the first up to the 3rd quarters of game 5.

Talk n Text takes the lead for three quarters and maintained an 8 point lead courtesy of de Ocampo, Dillinger and Ryan Reyes.

That was because throughout those 3 quarters, Petron was struggling as Arwind Santos gave his 3rd foul during the 1st half and still searching the key to open a deadlock opportunity led by Joseph Yeo, who fired crucial baskets to stop the Talk n Text in making a run.

Thankfully, Danny Ildefonso was able to help Yoe as he sank majority of his blazing shots in the shaded lane. Thru his efforts, Petron was able to get the lead during the early parts of the very crucial 4th Quarter.

While Texters tried to make a run, they were trapped during the last minute of the match as Ildefonso showed his veteran move under time pressure to lead the game with a point 83-82.
TnT failed to put another shot which gave the Petron another chance to stretch their lead, but Dillinger decided to gave a foul to Chris Lutz to forbid the Boosters to shoot another field goal. Lutz successfully sank his 2 bonus freethrows to increase his team's score that secured their 3rd victory in the series.

Here are the scores from PBA.PH:

PETRON 85 - Ildefonso 22, Lutz 13, Yeo 13, Cabagnot 8, Santos 7, Reyes 6, Sharma 6, Miranda 5, Tugade 3, Baclao 2.

TALK N' TEXT 82 - Reyes 17, De Ocampo 15, Castro 13, Dillinger 9, Peek 9, Fonacier 6, Williams 5, Carey 4, Alapag 3, Aguilar 1.

Quarters: 22-23, 38-44, 60-66, 85-82