MANILA — The TNT KaTropa Texters came back from a Game 1 drubbing to score a resounding 103-96 victory over the Barangay Ginebra Kings Wednesday night to knot their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series at one game apiece.

The pivotal Game 3 of the best-of-5 series is set Friday.

Glen Rice Jr. and Jayson Castro served as the main engines of the TNT offense, finishing with 21 and 20 points, respectively, with both scoring three triples. Rice added three rebounds and four assists in just under 23 minutes of action even as he struggled with foul trouble. Castro had 10 assists and four caroms in over 35 minutes. Troy Rosario scored 16 markers, eight rebounds and two assists while Roger Pogoy and Mo Tautuaa chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

The Texters won by negating the Kings’ height advantage, matching Ginebra’s bigs with their own big starting five of Kelly Williams, Anthony Semerad, Rosario, Rice, and Castro. The ploy worked as TNT led by as much as 18 points, 33-15, early in the second quarter. The TNT surprise caught the Kings flatfooted, resulting in 12 turnovers in the first quarter alone.

Ginebra, however, came charging back before the end of the first half, outscoring TNT, 33-18, to cut the deficit to 49-47.

The Kings finally grabbed the lead in the third quarter as TNT was forced to bench Rice due to foul trouble. Rice picked up his fourth foul with still 3 minutes left in the first half, forcing coach Nash Racela to bench him. But even without the former NBA player, the Texters managed to fire off a 12-2 blast to regain control of the game, 65-55.

Rice returned to the court only in the final quarter, scoring 14 points as TNT kept Ginebra at bay en route to victory.

Justin Brownlee led Ginebra with 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. LA Tenorio finished with 17 markers, seven rebounds and six assists. Japeth Aguilar and Sol Mercado added 14 points each, with Aguilar grabbing nine boards.

Game Thursday: Meralco Bolts vs. Star Hotshots (best-of-5 semifinals; Meralco leads 2-0).