Carey goes crazy as Talk ‘N Text stops Rain or Shine

PBA/Nuki Sabio

Talk ‘N Text halted Rain or Shine’s quick start with a dominant 107-98 win Friday night in the 2011 PBA Philippine Cup at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

Harvey Carey, Jason Castro and Ryan Reyes joined forces in a telling fourth-quarter assault to help the Tropang Texters break away from a tight game and inflict the Elasto Painters their first loss after a 2-0 start.

Carey hit a game-high 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, while Reyes and Castro contributed 19 and 18 points respectively for the squad of coach Chot Reyes.

Carey also added 14 rebounds and had a rare three-pointer in the third period, when he unloaded 11 of his total output that allowed Talk ‘N Text to seize control of the game.

“I just play my role. Guys just penetrated and found me. Luckily my shots went in,” said Carey.

His impressive showing grabbed the spotlight from sensational Rain or Shine rookie Paul Lee, who scored 17 points but struggled with his shots before fouling out late in the game.

“We wanted to make sure that there was an extra guy on Paul Lee. But he still scored 17 that’s a mark of a special player,” said Reyes, who still missed the services of Kelly Williams, Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo.

“We were fortunate enough to have a good scoring game from Harvey whom we don’t even have a play for that and that was the difference in tonight’s game.”

The Elasto Painters were still in the match after Beau Belga’s basket in the fourth quarter cut the Talk ‘N Text lead to 79-76. But the Texters unloaded a 20-9 run capped by Castro’s steal that led to a lay-up to erect a 99-85 cushion with little over two minutes remaining.

Larry Fonacier and Jared Dillinger also hit double figures in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the defending champions.

Belga chipped in 16 while Gabe Norwood netted 12 for Rain or Shine, whose win-loss record dropped to 2-1.

The scores:

TALK N’ TEXT 107 – Carey 28, Reyes 19, Castro 18, Fonacier 13, Dillinger 11, Aguilar 7, Peek 7, Aban 4, Raymundo 0, Lao 0.

RAIN OR SHINE 98 – Lee 17, Belga 16, Norwood 12, Cruz 11, Arana 11, Chan 10, Quinahan 10, Buenafe 7, Matias 4, Rodriguez 0.

Quarterscores: 22-21, 47-48, 74-69, 107-98

Follow @interaksyon