Meralco locked the no. 2 seed in Group A following a 124-82 decimation of the also-ran Terrafirma for a masterful wrap-up of their PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup group stage campaign, Saturday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Bolts raced to a 24-8 start into the match before finishing the first quarter with a 34-15 advantage.
That set the tone for the lopsided show in what should be a solid warm-up entering the best-of-five quarterfinals next week.
Luigi Trillo and Co. finished the preliminaries with a 7-3 record and will face the third seed of Group B, which could either be Ginebra or San Miguel.
“The true test will come in this playoffs,” said Trillo. “We know that San Miguel is gonna be ready because we just faced them sa championship; ‘yung Ginebra, alam naman natin iba ‘yung flow nila with a lot of their good guys.”
Alvin Pasaol top-scored for Meralco with 21 points, 15 of which he made in the fourth quarter alone as he took advantage of the extended minutes. The hefty winger nailed five triples and also hauled down eight rebounds.
CJ Cansino finished with 15 points – including 10 in the third quarter alone – on a perfect 7-for-7 clip from the foul line. That performance earned him Player of the Game honors.
Allen Durham only had 14 points and seven rebounds as he didn’t need to do much in the rout. The 36-year-old forward played for only 24 minutes.
Raymar Jose was another welcome spark in the victory with 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists as he enjoyed his 15 minutes on the floor.
Brandon Bates added 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and seven rebounds in the 42-point rout.
The win is now their biggest winning margin in franchise history, according to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
Meralco’s balanced attack burst the bubble of the upset-seeking Dyip, who aimed to follow up their 84-72 stunner of the group’s top seed in TNT just last Thursday for win no. 1 of the season.
However, they couldn’t accomplish the feat.
Partly the reason was Stanley Pringle being listed as DNP due to an injury, a bummer given that he starred versus the Tropang Giga with 18 points.
Antonio Hester led Terrafirma with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Louie Sangalang made 17 points.
Meanwhile, rookies Didat Hanapi and Paolo Hernandez added 12 and 11 markers, respectively, in a tough end to their conference (1-9).
The Scores:
Meralco 124 – Pasaol 21, Cansino 15, Durham 14, Jose 12, Bates 11, Banchero 9, Hodge 8, Almazan 8, Caram 7, Newsome 6, Torres 4, Mendoza 3, Quinto 2, Pascual 2, Rios 2.
Terrafirma 82 – Hester 18, Sangalang 17, Hanapi 12, Hernandez 11, Olivario 7, Carino 5, Ramos 4, Grospe 4, Cahilig 2, Ferrer 2.
Quarterscores: 34-15, 66-37, 91-61, 124-82.
