Meralco needed only a little time to get into rhythm, and there would be no denying the crew on its way to crushing Rain or Shine, 96-79, in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, Saturday night.
The Bolts actually trailed by a field goal barely two minutes into the match, but flipped the switch all of a sudden, unloading a 14-0 run for a 16-4 lead before finishing the opening period with a 35-15 advantage in a blazing start.
Coach Luigi Trillo’s men came close to scoring 60 at the half and would lead by as many as 34, making it practically a one-sided affair as they dragged the twice-to-beat Elasto Painters to a do-or-die on Monday also at the Big Dome.
Winner of this encounter will face either the No. 3 seed TNT Tropang 5G or Magnolia, both of which are duking it out in the other bracket later tonight.
(C) PBA Images
“We started out well. I think in the first quarter we were up by a big lead,” offered head coach Luigi Trillo post-game. “We didn’t think that would happen.”
A quintet of players finished in twin digits in the triumph, with Chris Newsome, CJ Cansino, and Cliff Hodge leading the pack with 14 points apiece.
Jansen Rios proved to be the surprise spark with 12 points and five rebounds, plus four of their 10 steals off the bench on the way to earning Player of the Game honors. Aaron Black also came through with 12 markers.
Still, Trillo and the brain trust were far from satisfied despite the win, pointing out their second-half showing in which they allowed the opposition to cut the gap to as close as 12 points thrice, the last at 87-75 with 2:57 remaining.
(C) PBA Images
The good thing, though, was that Rios was there to stop their momentum with a booming trifecta, before Newsome came in and pushed their lead to 19 points at 94-75 entering the final minute to shut down any hope of a comeback.
“They (Rain or Shine) kind of do well when they have those small lineups, and they’re physical, and they almost came back. We might have won this game, but we have a lot of things we have to clean up,” said Trillo.
Adrian Nocum had 17 points while Gian Mamuyac added 16 and five rebounds to lead Rain or Shine, which went just 4-of-33 from three-point distance.
Jhonard Clarito and Gabe Norwood added nine each in the loss that also spoiled the return of Luis Villegas from a lengthy absence due to injury.
The Scores:
Meralco 96 – Newsome 14, Cansino 14, Hodge 14, Black 12, Rios 12, Almazan 9, Banchero 6, Quinto 6, Bates 5.Pascual 2, Reyson 0.
Rain or Shine 79 – Nocum 17, Mamuyac 16, Clarito 9, Norwood 9, Santillan 6, Malonzo 6, Tiongson 6, Pringle 5, Lemetti 5, Belga 0, Caracut 0, Asistio 0, Villegas 0, Porter 0.
Quarterscores: 35-15, 58-31, 78-60, 96-79.
