MANILA, Philippines - Jared Dillinger banged in the game-winner to lift Talk ‘N Text to a 106-105 come-from-behind win over Barangay Ginebra to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-5 quarterfinal series of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Dillinger received a perfect inbound feed from Ranidel de Ocampo and the six-foot-five Fil-Am banked in the game-winner with 2.4 seconds remaining as Celino Cruz’s last-second heave was way off the mark that put the Kings to a 0-2 hole.

“I wanted to dunk it so badly but I just wanted to be safe,” said Dillinger of his basket that completed the Tropang Texters’ come-from-behind win.

Talk ‘N Text was down by as much as 18 points early in the third period but kept on coming back as Ginebra had a number of missed free throws in the fourth period that allowed the defending champion to get back in the game.

“That’s how basketball is. Siot (Tanquingcen) did it to Tim Cone and Cone did that to Chot Reyes. We copied the same kind of movement when we needed it,” said TNT mentor Chot Reyes, referring to the last set of plays that was used often by PBA coaches during crunch time.

“Our ability to keep our heads and execute after being down by 18 were the keys and I commended my players for that,” he added.

Jason Castro led TNT with 19 points while Harvey Carey added 17. Ranidel de Ocampo and Dillinger chipped in 16 and 14 markers respectively.

Ginebra, which was badly beaten in Game 1, 92-107, was on its way of leveling the series after leading 67-49 before early in the third but Tropang Texters staged a rally and tied the game at 91-all with 7:42 left in the game.

The Kings scored the next 5 points for a 96-91 advantage but the Texters responded with a 6-0 blast to grab the lead at 97-96, their first since the 18-11 in the first period.

Enrico Villanueva and Castro traded baskets to put the score at 99-98.

JC Intal buried a triple to give the Kings a 101-99 lead but Castro answered back with his own trey, 102-101, 2:23 remaining.

Intal countered with another three-pointer, 104-102 before Carey tied the game for the last time with a lay-up, 104-all with 25.1 ticks left.

Ginebra had the chance to go up by 2 points when Intal was fouled by Mark Cardona but the ex-Ateneo star missed the first free throw before converting the second one for a 105-104 lead with 3.3 seconds remaining.

Reyes sued for a timeout and designed a couple of options for the last play including the alley-hoop play for Dillinger.

Intal led Ginebra with 23 points while Ronald Tubid added 20 for coach Jong Uichico.
 
Giants also in 2-0 lead

Purefoods Tender Juicy also came back from 20 points and James Yap hit his first two free throws out of three attempts with less than a second left to come away to pull off a 95-94 escape over Rain or Shine in Game 2 of their own best-of-5 quarterfinal series.

Jeff Chan put the Elasto Painters to a 94-93 with a twisting drive over Rafi Reavis with 8.5 seconds left.

But Yap, who was way behind the rainbow line, drew a foul from Eddie Laure with 0.6 ticks remaining.

Yap hit the first two and intentionally missed the last one as the Giants escaped with the victory and move to a victory away of meeting San Miguel Beer in the best-of-7 semifinal series.

James Yap led Puerfoods with 23 points while Roger Rap added 22.

Sol Mercado paced Rain or Shine with 26 markers. Gabe Norwood contributed 22 points and 16 rebounds for coach Caloy Garcia.