Meralco broke into the win column after three starts at the expense of Blackwater, 105-96, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts banked on a huge 13-3 run to avert another collapse after the Bossing trimmed a once-imposing 24-point deficit to just three with over nine minutes left in the game.

Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan and Aaron Black anchored the decisive blitz that gave Meralco a 97-84 advantage with 4:05 remaining that kept Blackwater at bay.

“I think we did enough in the first half to get the lead. We had a little bit of a meltdown there in the third quarter where Blackwater got going offensively,” Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo said.

Meralco not only weathered the Bossing’s tough second half fight back but also the hot shooting night of returning Sedrick Barefield, who dropped 34 points in his first game of the season.

“We did enough to win the game but you have to also credit Blackwater for being resilient and getting the lead down. They’re a handful now with (Dalph) Panopio, (Christian) David and (Sedrick) Barefield. We kind of managed David and Panopio but Barefield was hard to stop,” Trillo said.

Newsome led the Bolts with 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Cliff Hodge finished with 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Allein Maliksi and Brandon Bates chipped in 13 markers each.

Almaan got 12 points and eight boards while Aaron Black pout in 11 markers for the Bolts.

Meralco went up by as high as 24 points, 65-41, early in the third period but allowed Blackwater to close in with a 35-point turnout in the third quarter.

RK Ilagan pushed the Bossing closer, 84-81, with a three-pointer in the last 8:38 before Meralco quelled the uprising starting with a Newsome layup.

Barefield shot 12-of-21 from the field for Blackwater, which slipped to a 1-1 record.

Ilagan got 22 points while Abu Tratter had 11 markers for the Bossing.

The scores:

MERALCO (105) — Newsome 21, Hodge 14, Bates 13, Maliksi 13, Almazan 12, Black 11, Quinto 7, Cansino 6, Jose 5, Caram 2, Pascual 0, Banchero 0.

BLACKWATER (96) — Barefield 34, Ilagan 22, Tratter 11, David 7, Mendoza 4, Guinto 4, Jopia 4, Andrade 3, Murrell 2, Panopio 2, Escoto 0, Dumont 0.

Quarter: 29-24, 61-39, 84-74, 105-96.