Meralco sustains hot start with escape of Globalport

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Coach Norman Black visited the press room only once last conference with a 1-10 record. Nowadays he’s a frequent guest at post-game.

The Meralco Bolts only managed to pull away late in the fourth but it was enough to keep their unblemished record with a 96-88 victory over the shorthanded Globalport Batang Pier in the 2016 PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday, February 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“Boy, last conference I never saw you guys, now I see you an awful lot,” the Meralco head coach addressed the media for the 5th straight time this conference as Meralco tied its franchise-best start of 5-0 from last year’s Commissioner’s Cup. 

“It’s a good feeling to keep the train rolling. Moving up to 5-0 is really gonna help us down the line just in case we do stumble a little bit.”

Jared Dillinger came off the bench and led the Bolts with 17 points, including 8 in the fourth, to go with 5 rebounds and two assists.

Chris Newsome chipped in 15 markers while Reynel Hugnatan added 12 markers and 6 boards.

Import Arinze Onuaku was limited to just 13 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks as he has just recovered from food poisoning since Wednesday.

“My import’s been sick the last two days,” Black said. “He’s been in the hospital and as of yesterday he was on IV to try to replenish his energy. We wanted to use this past week to get him in better shape but because he got sick we were not able to do that.”

Meralco finished with a 6-5 record after their sizzling start last Commissioner’s Cup and was swept in the semifinals. They’re hoping to change their fortunes this time around.

“It’s very interesting because we were 5-0 in this conference last year and we played San Miguel in the 6th game, and we play San Miguel again on Saturday,” Black pointed out. “It’s going to be a very interesting contest coming up for us.”

Globalport, which slipped to 2-3 with its third straight loss, played without star guard Stanley Pringle, who is out for two weeks due to a right ankle sprain he sustained on Friday.

Curiously, the Batang Pier also did not field in usual gunner Joseph Yeo despite Pringle’s absence. Pido Jarencio said it was coach’s decision for Yeo not to play but did not elaborate.

Import Calvin Warner did the heavy lifting for Globalport with 29 points, 19 rebounds, 3 assists and two blocks. Terrence Romeo finished with 18 markers on 4-of-14 shooting from the field, while Anthony Semerad and Paolo Taha had 11 points apiece.

It took two minutes for the Bolts to break free from an 80-all tie, using an 8-1 run for the 88-81 edge on a Chris Newsome jumper with only two minutes remaining in the game.

It had been an up-and-down affair for most of the contest with 16 lead changes and 8 deadlocks. Though Meralco controlled the pace of the game with a 57-34 edge on the boards, a 16-7 advantage in fastbreak points, and a 57-24 lead in bench points.

Scores:

Meralco (96): Dillinger 17, Newsome 15, Onuaku 13, Hugnatan 12, Amer 9, Caram 8, Hodge 6, David 5, Nabong 4, Alapag 4, Bono 2, Faundo 2.

Globalport (88): Warner 29, Romeo 18, Semerad 11, Taha 11, Uyloan 7, Mamaril 6, Washington 4, Kramer 2, Jensen 0, Sumang 0.

Quarter scores: 25-17, 40-38, 65-65, 96-88.

– Rappler.com