Meralco Bolts complete sweep of Star Hotshots, advance to Govs Cup finals

Delfin Dioquino

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Meralco Bolts complete sweep of Star Hotshots, advance to Govs Cup finals
Star comes back from down 10 in the second half before Meralco puts the finishing touches on the series in overtime

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Meralco Bolts fended off a gritty Star Hotshots in overtime, 91-88, to sweep their best-of-5 semis series and clinch the first finals berth of the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup at Smart-Araneta Coliseum on Thursday, October 5. 

Meralco held a 5-point lead with 1:21 remaining in the extra period following a Jared Dillinger trey and a Ranidel de Ocampo jumper before Star ended its scoring drought with a Rafi Reavis bucket, 85-88.

Cliff Hodge buried his only trey of the game with 18 seconds left to give the Bolts a 91-85 advantage but Mark Barroca answered quickly with his own triple to make it a one-possession game for the Hotshots, 88-91. 

Star still had a chance of scoring an equalizer after Barroca stole the ball but a triple-teamed Jio Jalalon missed from downtown. 

“We knew they would come out fighting, we knew they would come out with a lot of pressure. We ran through brick wall to win this basketball game. We really had to gut it out. It was a hard-fought victory for us but in the end, it is worth it to get to move on to the championship,” said Meralco coach Norman Black. 

Down by 10 points, 64-54, the Hotshots ignited a 14-5 spurt thanks to Mark Barroca and Jio Jalalon and Meralco missing half of their 6 free throws to pull within one, 68-69, entering the fourth.

It was a nip-and-tuck battle in the fourth quarter that reached an 83-all deadlock with only 14 seconds remaining but both teams failed to score the go-ahead bucket as Barroca bricked a three-point attempt while Bolts import Allen Durham missed a fadeaway at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime.

Durham paced the Bolts with 24 points, 19 boards and 6 assists while Hodge chipped in 18 markers and 8 rebounds.  

De Ocampo added 13 points and 7 rebounds in the win while Dillinger and Baser Amer combined for 20 markers. 

Barroca almost had a triple-double for the Hotshots with 21 points, 12 boards and 8 assists.  

Marc Pingris has 16 points and 6 boards in the losing effort.  

The Bolts will have the opportunity of preparing for a week as they wait for the winner of the TNT-Ginebra semis clash whom they will play in Game 1 of the finals next Friday, October 13, in Lucena.  

Scores: 

Meralco (91): Durham 24, Hodge 18, De Ocampo 13, Amer 10, Dillinger 10, Newsome 9, Hugnatan 7, Tolomia 0, Lanete 0

Star (88): Barroca 21, Pingris 16, Jalalon 12, Ramos 8, Sangalang 8, dela Rosa 7, Reavis 6, Acox 4, Gamalinda 3, Melton 3, Simon 0  

Quarter scores: 30-27, 54-43, 69-68, 83-83, 91-88. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Person, Human, Clothing

author

Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.