Meralco outlasted Hong Kong Eastern in a nip-and-tuck affair, 88-83, to snap out of a two-game funk in a strong resumption to its PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup campaign, Sunday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Aaron Black and Chris Newsome delivered the closing blows inside the final 45.3 seconds as the guards helped the Bolts survive the guest team after the crew lost a lead as big as nine and trailed, 72-71, early in the fourth quarter.
The young lefty laid it in off a strong drive to the hoop, before their main man knocked down both of his free throws to give themselves the 88-81 lead — and all that proved enough for the crew to chalk up win no. 4 in six games.
“This is a good one, we did enough to win. It was a grind-out win,” said coach Luigi Trillo, whose wards forced the opposition to commit 21 turnovers.
Akil Mitchell top-scored for Meralco with 31 points and 14 rebounds with five assists on his way to earning Player of the Game honors.
Bong Quinto was the only other double-digit scorer with 16 points, while Newsome and Black added nine points apiece in the triumph that witnessed the crew eke out the win despite shooting just 37.0-percent from the floor.
Now the Bolts will shift their attention to TNT in an all-MVP Group duel on Tuesday, January 7, 7:30 p.m. at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Eastern, on the other hand, fell to 6-3 despite the efforts of Chris McLaughlin in leading the charge as he finished with 28 and 18 with four blocks.
Kobey Lam supplied 16 points, 14 of which he made in the second half, while Steven Guinchard and Hayden Blankley added 13 and 12, respectively.
The four tried to carry the load for the guest team on a night lead playmaker Glen Yang only mustered two points no thanks to foul trouble.
The Hong Kong A1 Division champions will turn their focus on the EASL before returning to the PBA on January 17 against Terrafirma also at Philsports.
The Scores:
Meralco 88 – Mitchell 31, Quinto 16, Black 9, Newsome 9, Black 9, Hodge 6, Banchero 6, Caram 4, Torres 3, Bates 2, Cansino 2, Rios 0, ALmazan 0, Reyson 0.
Hong Kong Eastern 83 – McLaughlin 28, Lam 16, Guinchard 13, Blankley 12, Cao 5, Cheung 3, Chan 2, Yang 2, Pok 2, Leung 0, Xu 0.
Quarterscores: 19-15, 39-36, 69-67, 88-83.
