ANTIPOLO — Meralco refused to get swept and instead sent Magnolia packing by way of a 105-102 overtime victory to advance to the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals at the Ynares Center here, Saturday night.
Skeptics have been on the Bolts’ tails after losing in their last two meetings that put their conference in danger, but they managed to get their act together in time and showed much better poise, most especially when the going got tough.
“We needed to clean some things up, and eventually these guys pulled through. Gutted it out and found a way,” lauded head coach Luigi Trillo.
(C) PBA Images
Bong Quinto helped set the tone in extra time by scoring the first bucket, then came CJ Cansino and Cliff Hodge with key hits as well to keep themselves in it, with Jerom Lastimosa carrying much of the load for the other team.
It then went down to a battle between who would budge first, and that proved to be the Hotshots, with the sophomore guard only splitting his shots from the stripe and failing to tie the game at 102-all with 23.5 seconds remaining.
Things would turn from bad to worse for Magnolia as Cansino and Quinto added on to their lead through separate trips to the line in the final 21.1, and it didn’t help that Lastimosa’s intended pass to Zav Lucero became a turnover.
The one-time Philippine Cup champs would go on to escape with the narrow decision, becoming the third team to reach the Final Four after Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Rain or Shine completed half of the cast last night.
Now, Meralco will wait for the winner between NLEX and TNT for its opponents in the best-of-7 semifinals, which begins this coming Wednesday.
“I think this is our ninth conference with Coach Nenad [Vucinic]. We made the semis now, back-to-back,” reflected the champion bench tactician.
“I think of those nine conferences we made the quarterfinals every time, so it’s a testament to, you know, the way the boys are responding,” he added.
Marvin Jones led Meralco with 28 points and nine rebounds, with Chris Newsome punching in 18 points and a quintet of assists.
Cansino made 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Hodge had 14 points and seven rebounds, with Quinto chipping in 11 markers.
Quinto was actually silent earlier in the match, but it all changed when he nailed a booming trey for the 92-90 lead with 29 seconds left in regulation.
That then got him going as he scored eight of his points in the extra period to lead the turnaround after the crew trailed by as many as nine at one point.
(C) PBA Images
With him showing the way, the Bolts wasted the career-high 28 of Lastimosa, who carried leadership responsibilities on his shoulders the best he could after Clint Chapman got fouled late in the fourth, until fatigue caught up to him.
Chapman was having himself a night until he got disqualified with about four minutes to go on the clock, exiting with 26 points and four rebounds.
Down the drain as well were the 22 of Mark Barroca for the Hotshots, who haven’t reached the semis since the 2023-24 Commissioner’s Cup.
The Scores:
Meralco 105 – Jones 28, Newsome 18, Cansino 16, Hodge 14, Quinto 11, Mocon 7, Brickman 6, Banchero 2, Black 2, Bates 1.
Magnolia 102 – Lastimosa 28, Chapman 26, Barroca 22, Lee 8, Sangalang 6, Gomez de Liano 6, Lucero 4, Dela Rosa 2, Andrada 0, Alfaro 0.
Quarterscores: 19-22, 44-47, 70-72, 92-92, 105-102.
