Last season’s Governors’ Cup runners-up Meralco Bolts showed no mercy against the Blackwater Elite, taking a dominant 107-78 win, Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“It was exactly the kind of start we were hoping for. Going into the conference, we played pretty well in our last two exhibition games against Alaska and Global,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black. “We were hoping we could carry that over into our game today.”
Blackwater was without their two stars Art dela Cruz (ruptured hamstring) and Mac Belo (National team duties).
Baser Amer continued from were he left off from last conference, finishing with 20 points to go along with eight assists. Allen Durham added 18 points and 21 rebounds.
But it was Garvo Laneta who sparked the Bolts, scoring 15 points off the bench.
“So having Garvo as an addition to our team, really helps our spacing and outside shooting,” Black remarked about the third-year guard.
Meralco raced to an early 32-15 lead to end the opening frame and never looked back. As a team, the Bolts knocked down 11 three-pointers compared to none for the Elite.
“We came out very strong defensively, we were able to pick up a lot of stops in the first quarter and our offense started to click especially with Lanete hitting those long bombs,” Black furthered.
The Bolts would lead by as much as 39 points, 93-54, in the final frame.
Blackwater import Trevis Simpson paced the Elite with 25 points but needed 21 attempts to do so. Bam Gamalinda chipped in 10 markers.
Meralco will face the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Sunday, July 23 at 6:45pm. This is a rematch of the 2016 PBA Governors Cup Finals. Blackwater, on the other hand, takes on the Star Hotshots on the same day at 4:15pm. Both games will be held at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
Meralco (107) – Amer 20, Durham 18, Lanete 15, Dillinger 14, Newsome 13, Hodge 11, Hugnatan 4, Nabong 4, Caram 2, Yeo 2, Sedurifa 2, Faundo 2, Chua 0, Atkins 0.
Blackwater (78) – Simpson 25, Gamalinda 10, Sena 7, Cruz 7, Digregorio 6, Sumang 5, Erram 4, Canaleta 3, Pascual 3, Aguilar 2, Miranda 2, Banal 2, Cervantes 2, Buenafe 0, Pinto 0.
Quarterscores: 32-15, 63-34, 88-52, 107-78.
