Meralco secured its ticket to the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup quarterfinals after pouncing on a hard-lucked NorthPort, 114-104, on Saturday night.
Allen Durham led the Bolts with 23 points and 13 rebounds. He and the Bolts capitalized on the Batang Pier losing Venky Jois, and the Australian import suffered a suspected Achilles injury with three minutes left in the first quarter.
Chris Newsome delivered a double-double of his own with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Chris Banchero supplied 19. The backcourt tandem provided the leadership in the final frame to secure the crucial victory.
The Philippine Cup champions have risen to 6-2 in Group A to keep in pace with leader TNT (6-1), most especially after suffering a 108-99 defeat at the hands of the reigning conference champions just two nights ago in the same venue.
“At this point, we want to get playoff-ready. At the start of the season, we didn’t get any tune-up games. We had limited practice so parang now, we need to win but we also need to get ready,” offered head coach Luigi Trillo.
CJ Cansino and Brandon Bates supplied 12 points while Anjo Caram added 10 markers for Meralco, who dominated the boards, 63-29.
Trillo’s charges outrebounded their counterparts on just the offensive end alone by hauling down 31, and scored 20 points off second chances.
That’s because of the gaping hole left by Jois on the Batang Pier frontline, although his remaining teammates still tried to rally behind him.
They got to within single digits multiple times down the stretch after facing a 77-63 deficit at one point, but triples by Banchero and Newsome restored order for Meralco, 111-97, heading into the game’s final three minutes.
Carrying the load for NorthPort following the exit of Jois was Arvin Tolentino, who finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
Joshua Munzon backstopped their main man with 17 points while Damie Cuntapay and William Navarro added 12 and 11, respectively.
The Batang Pier fell outside the Top Four of the group and dropped to no. 5 with a 3-5 record after absorbing their second loss in a row.
The Scores:
Meralco 114 – Durham 23, Newsome 20, Banchero 19, Cansino 12, Bates 12, Caram 10, Quinto 7, Almazan 6, Hodge 5, Pascual 0, Mendoza 0, Torres 0, Jose 0.
NorthPort 104 – Tolentino 28, Munzon 17, Cuntapay 12, Navarro 11, Yu 9, Flores 9, Amores 7, Jois 4, Bulanadi 4, Jalalon 3, Tratter 0, Onwubere 0, Nelle 0, Taha 0.
Quarterscores: 41-37, 67-59, 89-80, 114-104.
