Meralco broke free late to beat San Miguel in the opener of the best-of-seven PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup Finals.
Meralco leaned on what it does best, flexing its defensive muscle to edge San Miguel, 93-86, in Game One of the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup finals on Wednesday, June 5.
The Bolts held the Beermen scoreless in over two minutes in the fourth period and pulled away to gain the headstart in the race-to-four contest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Chris Newsome of Meralco defends against San Miguel's CJ Perez. | Photo (c) RM Chua
Meralco turned its defense into offense, with Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome spearheading the assault with 18 points each. They also combined for 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Bong Quinto and Allein Maliksi scored 15 points apiece, while Cliff Hodge had seven points and 15 rebounds.
“I think we just came out in the second half and we’re able to do what we wanted to do. We wanted to take away certain things from them… In the second half we did better,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo.
After trailing by 10 points in the second quarter, the Bolts banked on Newsome in the third to make it a nip-and-tuck affair. It remained that way until early in the fourth before Meralco went on a 13-4 surge to take the lead for good at 85-79 halfway in the frame.
June Mar Fajardo quickly countered with an easy two to keep San Miguel within striking distance at 85-81, but the Bolts kicked their defense into higher gear.
Meralco silenced the Beermen in more than two minutes before Banchero stretched Meralco's lead to 10, 93-83, with 1:35 to go.
San Miguel was held to just two field goals in the final 3:07, its last basket coming off a Don Trollano triple with 1:30 left on the clock.
As overwhelming as their firepower were, the Beermen just went gun shy from there.
Fajardo had a slow start before managing to produce 23 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and the same number of blocks against six turnovers.
Riddled by foul trouble, CJ Perez still finished with a second-best 20 points he spiked with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Marcio Lassiter fired three triples on his way to 16 points.
The Scores:
MERALCO 93 – Newsome 18, Banchero 18, Quinto 15, Maliksi 15, Caram 9, Almazan 8, Hodge 7, Bates 2, Pascual 1, Torres 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0, Dario 0
SAN MIGUEL 86 – Fajardo 23, Perez 20, Lassiter 16, Trollano 9, Tautuaa 5, Cruz 5, Teng 4, Brondial 4, Ross 0, Enciso 0
Quarterscores: 19-20, 44-51, 70-72, 93-86