Meralco crushes Terrafirma for 2nd straight win

MANILA, Philippines – The Meralco Bolts captured their second straight win after crushing the Terrafirma Dyip, 107-95, in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City on Thursday, February 24.

Meralco import Tony Bishop continued to be a force to be reckoned with as he finished with another game-high 26 points, to go along with 11 rebounds.

With the victory, the No. 2 Bolts, whose only loss came at the hands of the 11th-seed NorthPort Batang Pier exactly a week ago, improved to 6-1 in the standings, while the Dyip dropped their record to 2-6.

“Certainly, the loss to NorthPort was on our minds entering this game. We did not want to stumble again, knowing that the elimination round is coming to an end pretty soon and everybody’s fighting for positions,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

“We wanted to stay within that top 4 so we didn’t want to fall today to the Terrafirma team,” he added.

After ending the opening period with only a slim 4-point advantage, 30-26, Meralco stepped on the gas in the second quarter and went on a 30-19 run to surge ahead at halftime, 60-45.

The Bolts then kept up the pace against the Dyip in the third quarter, even extending their lead to as many as 23 points, 80-57, off a layup by Bishop.

In the fourth period, a triple by Joshua Munzon cut Meralco’s lead to 14, 100-86, with 6:24 left to play, but the Bolts quickly countered with a 7-0 run to stretch their lead back to 21, 107-86, which put the struggling Dyip away for good.

For the second game in a row, Allein Maliksi backstopped Bishop with an all-around game of 18 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, while Cliff Hodge added 16 markers on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting.

Antonio Hester led the way for the Dyip in the losing effort with a huge double-double of 23 points and 17 rebounds, while Munzon and Juami Tiongson contributed 17 and 13 points, respectively.

The Bolts will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they take on the Alaska Aces on Saturday, February 26, at 4 pm, while the Dyip will look to snap their two-game losing skid when they face the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Sunday, February 27, also at 4 pm.

The Scores

Meralco 107 – Bishop 26, Maliksi 18, Hodge 16, Quinto 11, Newsome 10, Black 8, Almazan 7, Banchero 6, Caram 5, Baclao 0, Jose 0, Canete 0, Pasaol 0.

Terrafirma 95 – Hester 23, Munzon 17, Tiongson 13, Daquioag 11, Camson 10, Cahilig 6, Gabayni 5, Pascual 3, Batiller 3, Ramos 2, Calvo 2, Go 0, Balagasay 0.

Quarters: 30-26, 60-45, 89-73, 107-95.

– Rappler.com