Cansino gave the Bolts their biggest lead at 78-50 with 5:57 left in the third canto.
CJ Cansino leads the local production with 26 points as Meralco blew past Titan Ultra, 118-105, on Sunday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Photograph courtesy of PBA
Games tomorrow:
(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)
5:15 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs Blackwater
7:30 p.m. ---— San Miguel Beer vs Macau
Meralco flirted with disaster before holding on to beat Titan Ultra, 118-105, and return in the win column of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Bolts save for a scary stretch in the final period where they needed to weather the storm brought by the Giant Risers strong fightback that turned their 28-point advantage to just eight with still five minutes remaining.
Bong Quinto, Chris Newsome and Jason Brickman responded with a decisive 9-0 blast to restore order just in time as Meralco bounced back from a tough loss to an unbeaten all-Filipino Rain or Shine (3-0) for a 3-1 win-loss record tied with NLEX, Terrafirma and Phoenix in second to fifth.
CJ Cansino led the way for the Bolts with 26 points in an efficient 10-of-17 field goal shooting.
“I guess we just played our game. When we played Rain or Shine they were more aggressive, they wanted to win more than us. We lost our Meralco identity that time. We’re not defending as we used to. So, all we needed to do was bring back the Meralco that’s playing in the PBA,” Cansino said.
The University of the Philippines product added six rebounds and dished out five assists in 30 minutes of action to lead Meralco’s locals.
“I’m just working hard to repay the trust given to me by my Kuyas, the coaches and the management. Just work and show on court what I worked hard for during the offseason,” he said.
Import Marvin Jones had a double-double of 24 points and 14 rebounds albeit limited to just two points in the fourth quarter for the Bolts. Quinto finished with 15 points, Brickman had 13 while Javee Mocon added 11 points.
Meralco was in control in the first three quarters, building a 21-point advantage entering the halftime break before extending the gap in the second half.
Cansino gave the Bolts their biggest lead at 78-50 with 5:57 left in the third canto.
Titan Ultra, however, responded with a hot 21-7 run behind Bryan Sajonia and Fran Yu to cut the Bolts’ 91-68 advantage with 10 minutes left in the final period to a single digit, 97-89, in the last 4:59 of the game.
Quinto sparked Meralco’s response with two charities before Brickman swished in two more from the stripes to punctuate the run for a 106-89 lead with 3:10 left.
The Bolts kept their distance the rest of the way.
Titan Ultra failed to capitalize on the momentum of its upset over San Miguel Beer last week and fell to a 1-3 card.
Sajonia scored 18 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for the Giant Risers.
Reinforcement Michael Gilmore scored 25 points and pulled down 16 rebounds while Joshua Munzon had a quiet nine-point, eight-rebound and four-assist outing.
