Meralco formalized its entry to the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals following an 82-73 victory over Ginebra, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The usual suspects came through down the stretch, putting together the 11-2 finishing kick from a 71-all deadlock as they kept the Kings almost scoreless in the game’s final 3:58 toward a strong conclusion to their elimination round.
After losing five of their first eight outings, the Bolts ended the preliminaries with a 6-5 record, similar to what they did during last season’s all-FIlipino wars in which they went all the way to win the Perpetual trophy by beating San Miguel.
That conference saw the MVP-owned franchise end up as the no. 3 seed in a five-way tie, but at the moment, they’re sitting at no. 8 in the standings.
“We really wanted to make sure that our destiny is in our hands,” said Chris Newsome. “We didn’t want to leave it up to somebody else.”
(C) PBA Images
Newsome led Meralco with 15 points and six rebounds. Chris Banchero supplied 14 points, while Cliff Hodge and Bong Quinto added 11 and 10 markers, respectively, and collected seven rebounds apiece as well.
It was that same quartet which joined forces for the aforementioned windup, with Hodge himself sparking as much with a three-point play with 3:37 to go.
Quinto then followed it up before Banchero and Newsome came in to contribute to push their lead to eight, 79-71, with 1:23 remaining as they made it even harder for a Ginebra side that struggled to find the bottom of the net.
The only time they did so was from the free throw line when Jamie Malonzon canned both of his shots to make it a 79-73 count with 38.1 seconds left but it was too insufficient of a time for the crew to muster one last comeback.
So frustrated was Coach Tim Cone not just with how his wards withered in the endgame but with the referees’ judgment over sequences which he thought weren’t called, to the point that he was ejected with 32.8 ticks to spare.
Hits by Newsome and Banchero afterward proved to be the finishing touches as the Bolts went on to snap the Barangay’s three-game winning streak.
(C) PBA Images
Ginebra fell to 5-3 following the defeat and is now in a three-way logjam with the TNT Tropang 5G and Rain or Shine, which coincidentally would be their final assignments after facing Magnolia this Sunday, June 1.
The latest chapter of the Manila Clasico, where they will be taking on the current leaders (7-1) that are also expected to parade their newest acquisition in William Navarro via trade from NorthPort, is also set to be held at the Big Dome.
Malonzo and Scottie Thompson finished with 16 points apiece on a combined 11-of-34 shooting for Ginebra, which shot a poor 31.6-percent from the floor.
Troy Rosario tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Japeth Aguilar and RJ Abarrientos added 12 markers apiece in the loss.
The Scores:
Meralco 82 – Newsome 15, Banchero 14, Hodge 11, Cansino 10, Quinto 10, Rios 5, Black 5, Bates 4, Almazan 4, Jose 4.
Ginebra 73 – Thompson 16, Malonzo 16, Rosario 14, J. Aguilar 12, Abarrientos 12, Holt 3, Cu 0, Gray 0, David 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17, 37-37, 61-56, 82-73.
