Meralco overcame a tepid start to top Converge, 116-88, for its third straight win in the PBA Governors’ Cup, Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts saw themselves trailing by six after the game’s first 12 minutes, but slowly got it together in the following chapter before breaking the game wide open after the break on the way to taking the provisional lead in Group A (4-1).
They have overtaken, for now, reigning conference champions TNT (3-1), who’s the last team to beat them before putting together this hot streak.
“We did not start out too well like last game,” offered Coach Luigi Trillo. “But as the game progressed, we had more sense of urgency defensively.”
“I thought we played better defense in the second quarter and then we started the third quarter great,” the veteran bench tactician added.
Sparking that third-quarter surge was Anjo Caram as he fired 11 of his 16 points in the said period, where the team as a whole scored 33. They produced a total of 63 points in just the second half to come away with the 28-ppint rout.
It is their most lopsided win in almost six years or since a 111-81 W over San Miguel in the 2018 Governors’ Cup, per PBA stats chief Fidel Mangonon III.
“We really had to grind it out, especially on the defensive end, especially in the third quarter, we went to our bread and butter, which is siyempre si AD,” said Caram. “They were really focusing on him and that drew the defense.”
“Nalibre yung mga shooters. Thank you kay Lord na na-shoot namin. It’s really a collective effort, ang daming magandang laro sa mga teammates ko,” he added.
It indeed was a collective effort from Meralco as a total of five players finished in double figures in the win, led by Allen Durham with 27 points, alongside 14 rebounds and six assists as he’s going back to his old form.
Chris Banchero finished with 24 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Alvin Pasaol was the surprise spark with 12 points while Jolo Mendoza added 10 markers as the 12 players fielded by Trillo scored at least a point in the win.
That kind of balanced attack came from a team facing manpower issues, with key cogs Cliff Hodge, Allein Maliksi, and Raymond Almazan still out due to minor injuries. Norbert Torres is out as well due to dengue.
‘You give credit to some of the guys who stepped up. No Cliff, we had Bong [Quinto[ at the four, Jansen [Rios] at the four, Alvin came out and really contributed. Toto Jose. Magandang exposure ‘to sa kanila,” Trillo said.
Meralco will try to stretch its win streak to four against Magnolia on Saturday, September 7 in Panabo City in a rematch of the Opening Night game.
Scotty Hopson, on the other hand, had 33 points, six rebounds, and the same amount of assists for Converge, who fell to its second loss in a row.
Alec Stockton had 13 points. JL Delos Santos had 12, while Jeo Ambohot added 10 markers as he tried to fill in the void left by Justin Arana and Pat Maagdenberg after the two bigs suffered injuries on separate occasions.
The FiberXers (2-3) will try to snap out of its funk versus TNT on Sunday, September 8, 7:30 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Scores:
Meralco 116 – Durham 27, Banchero 24, Caram 16, Pasaol 12, Mendoza 10, Cansino 6, Newsom 5, Quinto 5, Jose 5, Rios 3, Bates 2, pascual 1.
Converge 88 – Hopson 33, Stockton 13, Delos Santos 12, Ambohot 10, Santos 8, Winston 5, Maagdenberg 4, Andrade 3, Fleming 0, Racal 0, Nieto 0, Caralipio 0, Melecio 0, Fornilos 0, Cabagnot 0.
Quarterscores: 26-32, 53-50, 86-73, 116-88
