Meralco leaned on defense in crunch time to withstand TNT, 110-106, for its second straight win in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Tuesday night.
The Bolts almost squandered a big 20-point lead when the Tropang 5G charged back and threatened late with a 12-0 run to get within a field goal, 107-105, with a minute left, but prevented their sister team from getting any closer.
Coach Luigi Trillo’s charges disrupted Bol Bol from the outside, and then forced a driving Jordan Heading with no choice to pass it out to RR Pogoy, who then fired an air-ball as he wasn’t established enough from three-point distance.
Marvin Jones then split his foul shots for the eventual scoreline with 10.2 ticks remaining, and relied on D once more to stop the opposition from getting any good look from deep on the way to taking the scalp of the defending champions.
Jones top-scored for Meralco with 29 points and 12 rebounds as he and the squad emerged triumphant in an electric atmosphere at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium as a solid crowd came in to watch the rivalry affair live.
