Games Tuesday:
(Philsports Arena)
5 p.m. — Terrafirma vs Phoenix
7:30 p.m. — Meralco vs TNT
Meralco banked on its vaunted defense in bringing down error-plagued Hong Kong Eastern, 88-83, to arrest a two-game slide in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aaron Black and Chris Newsome delivered the crucial points late in the fourth period and held Eastern down in the last couple of plays as the Bolts got back in the win column to start the new year.
“This is a good one. We did enough to win. It’s a grind-out win. There’s still things we need to improve on. We missed, I think 19 free throws,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo as his squad improved to a 4-2 win-loss record.
Akil Mitchell, who’s getting comfortable playing with a protective mask after sustaining a broken nose last month, dropped 18 of his 31 points in the third quarter and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Bolts. The Meralco reinforcement was also active on defense with seven steals to go with five assists.
Black sank an up-and-under layup for an 86-81 lead with 45.3 seconds left in the game after Eastern closed the gap to three.
Meralco had crucial stops in the next couple of Eastern possessions before Newsome sank two charities in the last 33 seconds to make it a two-possession lead.
“We knew they’d come back in the third, they had 31 points, but I think we did enough to hold the fort and get this W,” Trillo said.
Bong Quinto was the only other Meralco player in double figures with 16 points while Newsome and Black scored nine each for the Bolts, who saw the return of injured players Brandon Bates, CJ Cansino and Raymond Almazan. Meralco played sans injured Allein Maliksi (knee).
After a shaky start, the Bolts headed into the dugout with a 39-36 lead at halftime.
Meralco went behind, 0-6, to begin the game before recovering to take a four-point lead after the first 12 minutes of action.
The Bolts opened a 28-19 lead after Norbert Torres connected a trey with 8:06 left in the second period.
Hong Kong kept its head above water behind CJ McLaughlin’s offensive outburst in the first half, scoring 16 points as Glen Yang had a rough night going scoreless in the first two frames.
Meralco forced the Eastern to commit 11 miscues that it converted to 12 points and outran the guest squad, 8-0, in fastbreak points in the first half.
McLaughlin had 28 points and 18 rebounds but was not enough to save Eastern from absorbing its third loss in nine outings.
Kobey Lam had 16 markers while Steven Guinchard and Hayden Blankley finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively, for Eastern, who had 21 turnovers.
The scores
MERALCO (88) — Mitchell 31, Quinto 16, Black 9, Newsome 9, Black 9, Hodge 6, Banchero 6, Caram 4, Torres 3, Bates 2, Cansino 2, Rios 0, Almazan 0, Reyson 0.
EASTERN (83) — McLaughlin 28, Lam 16, Guinchard 13, Blankley 12, Cao 5, Cheung 3, Chan 2, Yang 2, Pok 2, Leung 0, Xu 0.
Quarters: 19-15, 39-36, 69-67, 88-83.