The Meralco Bolts were able to get back on track behind a big fourth quarter, beating Terrafirma, 107-91, last 28 August in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Bong Quinto scored 22 points for the Bolts, who went on a 17-7 tear to turn a six-point game into a rout. They improved to 2-1 (win-loss) in Group A while playing without their top star Chris Newsome due to an injury.
The Dyip continued to struggle, falling to 0-3.
Quinto nailed three consecutive threes during that key stretch in the fourth quarter, incidentally after sustaining a left knee contusion for slipping on a wet spot on the floor.
"When someone gets injured among us, we can still execute in the game if we’re all ready to play. Anyone can score and play defense. That is the good thing about our team," said Quinto in Filipino.
Allen Durham led the Bolts with 23 points and 12 rebounds as Meralco bounced back from a 93-73 defeat to TNT last week.
Despite a quiet scoring game with 4 points, Cliff Hodge still made his presence felt with 11 rebounds and 7 assists for the undermanned Bolts, who also played without active consultant Nenad Vucinic due to an illness, key cogs Aaron Black, Raymond Almazan and Toto Jose due to injuries.
"Next man up. We are confident with our guys," said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. "I thought CJ (Cansino) helped Bong and Allein (Maliksi). Sometimes, they were the ones helping New dati. Now that New is injured, kailangan nila ng tulong. I think we did well today where it didn’t matter who scored and the ball swung around."
Chris Banchero had 17 points while CJ supplied 16 points and four rebounds for the Bolts in 17 minutes of action. Maliksi added 12 points in his first game this season.
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