Games Sunday:
(MoA Arena)
5:15 p.m. — San Miguel vs Ginebra
7:30 p.m. — TNT vs Meralco
Meralco finally learned how to build a big lead and actually win.
The Bolts sustained their hot start and repulsed a second-half fightback by TNT for a 97-89 victory in Game 3 to get on the board in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinals showdown Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Chris Banchero and CJ Cansino bannered Meralco’s nipping of the Tropang 5G’s lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1 after dropping 18 points each.
Chris Newsome added 17 points, while Bong Quinto and Raymond Almazan scored 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Bolts, who maintained their lead compared to the series opener, where they had led by 21 but lost by five.
Meralco will try to level the series on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Talk ‘N Text is really a hard team. They’ve been manhandling us the last two games. Just everybody, from the coaching staff to the players, coming together trying to make it a little bit hard for them,” Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo said.
Meralco’s defense did just that by limiting Calvin Oftana to a paltry six points on a 1-of-7 shooting from the field while Jordan Heading went scoreless on 0-of-7 shooting clip.
“It’s nice to finally get a win. We haven’t beaten this team in a long time and you have to credit the guys for sticking together. We know TNT will be back and they did come back and it was good that we kept our poise and we got the stops needed,” the mentor added.
“You know we got to look forward to that Sunday game.”
With backs against the wall, the Bolts played with a sense of urgency and desperate aggressiveness to jump into an early control of the match.
Cansino led the way for Meralco in the first half, scoring 10 points. He nailed a three-pointer with 1:54 left in the second quarter to give the Bolts a 46-32 separation.
Meralco entered the intermission with a 47-38 advantage.
Newsome extended the Bolts’ cushion to 16 after hitting a three-pointer at the 6:18 mark of the third period for a 63-47 count.
RR Pogoy scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser added 14 while Rey Nambatac added 13 for TNT.
Kelly Williams finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for the Tropang 5G, whose loss spoiled the jersey retirement of assistant coach and former star forward Ranidel De Ocampo.