Meralco uncorked a decisive second quarter run and clamped down on defense to finish off Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 78-69, in the deciding Game 7 of the semifinals and secure the last bus ride to the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Friday night at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas.

A 19-3 run heading into halftime set the tone for the Bolts’ second straight win that completed their come-from-behind best-of-seven series victory to set up a historic first-ever title showdown against already waiting defending champion San Miguel Beer.

Game 1 of the championship is on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We beat them back-to-back now and that is something to be proud about. With that being said, we just got into the finals. We got to put our focus now in the finals,” Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo said after his wards survived a 2-3 series deficit for the franchise’s first win in its seventh best-of-seven campaign.

Chris Banchero led Meralco’s offense with 24 points and six rebounds while rookie Brandon Bates stood tall on the defensive end, putting up an amazing six-shot block outing to go with his 13 rebounds and six markers.  

Chris Newsome turned in 20 points and six assists while Bong Quinto got 10 markers as the Bolts won their third straight road game for the team’s first all-Filipino conference appearance.    

Meralco went down 17-28 in the second period with 9:17 left after Stanley Pringle drained a trey before igniting an explosive fightback to take a 36-31 lead entering the break.

The Bolts limited the Gin Kings to only 11 points in the second canto after trailing by five at the end of the opening period.   

Meralco sustained momentum into the second half, having all the answers to the Gin Kings’ attempt to mount a significant rally. Newsome even nailed a trey at the buzzer to close the third quarter with the Bolts comfortably ahead, 62-51.  

Banchero pushed Meralco to its biggest separation, 74-58, with 5:42 left off a floater.

The Bolts did a great job holding down Christian Standhardinger to a 6-of-17 shooting as he finished with a quiet 16 points for Ginebra, which absorbed its first best-of-seven series loss to the Bolts in four meetings.

Scottie Thompson had 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Pringle scored 13 for the Gin Kings.

Box scores:

MERALCO (78) --- Banchero 24, Newsome 20, Quinto 10, Hodge 8, Bates 6, Almazan 3, Caram 3, Pascual 2, Maliksi 2, Mendoza 0

GINEBRA (69) --- Thompson 20, Standhardinger 16, Pringle 13, J.Aguilar 8, Pinto 5, Ahamisi 4, Cu 3, Tenorio 0

Quarters: 15-20, 36-31, 62-51, 78-69