Bolts 105, Magnolia 102

Bong Quinto made the shots that mattered that helped Meralco pull off a 105-102 overtime victory over Magnolia last 16 May at the Ynares Center in Antipolo and into the semifinals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Quinto scored eight of his 11 points in the extension, including two charity splits that made it a 105-101 count, only 5.4 ticks to go, and eventually enabled the Bolts to withstand a gallant effort from the Hotshots’ Jerom Lastimosa.

After bouncing back from an 89-95 loss in the quarterfinals duel last Wednesday, Meralco advances to the best-of-seven semis where it will take on TNT who prevailed against NLEX in the second game.

Coach Luigi Trillo first commended Magnolia’s gritty stand in trying to overcome a twice-to-win handicap before lauding his own team for continuing to respond to challenges he and active consultant Nenad Vucinic hurled at them.

"I think this our ninth conference with coach Nenad. We made the semis now, back-to-back. I think of those nine conferences we made the quarterfinals every time so it’s a testament to, you know, the way the boys are responding," said Trillo.

"He told the guys at the half that we’re right there, we needed to clean some things up, and eventually these guys pulled through. Gutted it out and found a way," added Trillo.

Marvin Jones led Meralco with 28 points and nine rebounds with Chris Newsome adding 18 points and five dimes and CJ Cansino and Cliff Hodge chipping in 14 and 11 markers, respectively.

Also helping Meralco’s cause was Magnolia import Clint Chapman getting into foul trouble that forced him on the bench for the last 6:13 of the third period before eventually fouling out with still 4:21 left in regulation after piling up 26 points and four rebounds.

Despite that, the Hotshots continued to hang tough with Lastimosa taking over the most before finishing with a career-high 28 points.

Mark Barroca was the lone other Hotshot in double digits with 22 points despite a bruise and welt under his left eye caused by a driving Hodge’s knee just 1:41 into the game.

A nit under the weather was Zav Lucero, limiting him to just four points, but Lastimosa readily picked up the scoring slack and even knotting the count at 92-all with a layup off a baseline drive and OT was forced when Newsome missed the last two attempts of regulation.

Lastimosa continued leading the way in the extra period with all 10 of Magnolia’s points, with his charity split putting the Hotshots within 101-102, still 23.5 ticks left.