Cliff Hodge and the rest of the Meralco Bolts had San Miguel on the ropes, but the Beermen found a way to pull off an escape act in Game 2.
Cliff Hodge has been active on offense recently in the ongoing PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup.
Friday’s Game 2 was no exception.
The do-it-all-forward Hodge put up 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field in Meralco’s 95-94 loss to San Miguel that leveled their best-of-seven finals duel.
Hodge, known more as a defensive lynchpin, later said he was not really consciously trying to contribute as much on scoring.
“The opportunities were there. Whenever they’re there, I’ll take them. It’s just what their defense (San Miguel) is doing for us; they wanted me to get open, so I was taking advantage of that,” Hodge said post-match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
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Unfortunately, it was not enough to help the Bolts, who failed to follow up on their 93-86 stunning Game 1 victory over the Beermen.
San Miguel leaned on CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter down the stretch in delivering the finishing blows to tie the best-of-seven contest before screaming fans at the Big Dome.
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“Honestly, it’s just a game. We should have won that. We had them on the ropes. But they’re a championship team. They came out and made the big plays when they needed to,” said the fourth overall pick in the 2012 draft.
Cliff Hodge of Meralco bulldozes his way past San Miguel's Don Trollano in Game 2. | Photo (c) Sherwin Vardeleon
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Now that the fight is back to square one, Hodge remained upbeat, taking comfort in the fact that his squad went toe-to-toe against the powerhouse Beermen and even had the chance to go up 2-0 in the ongoing battle.
“We had them on the ropes. We’re playing great team basketball,” said Hodge.
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“We’ll learn from this. It’s a big loss, but it’ll make us more resilient. And, I think, in the long run, it’ll be good for us.”
Hodge will bring the same mindset when Meralco and San Miguel duke it out in Game 3 on Sunday, June 9, at the same venue.
“I’m going to do whatever I can to try and win our first championship. We still got a chance,” he said.
Tipoff is at 6:15 p.m.