ANTIPOLO – Meralco dealt Converge its second straight loss, 109-88, on Wednesday night in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner's Cup at the Ynares Center.
Marvin Jones and CJ Cansino led the Bolts in taking a lead for good in the third quarter to debut in the new conference with a victory.
The loss sent the fancied FiberXers squad to a 1-2 win-loss mark, dropping their second consecutive game of the conference.
Converge also played minus Juan Gomez de Liano due to injury.
Jones finished with 29 points and eight rebounds, and Cansino had 23 points and eight assists for Meralco. The two scored in an 8-0 burst that got the Bolts leading, 63-52.
Jones buried a three and Cansino knocked down two straight fours in the fourth as the Bolts posted a 97-79 lead.
Meralco pulled away after being down, 27-22, in the first quarter.
“They (Converge) did well in the first quarter, but we started settling in,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. “It's their third game, may amuyan sila sa court. Kami it's our first game. Our first game isn't written in stone. We are not 100 percent in our flow. But we did better, defended better, and moved the ball better (over the course of the game).
Chris Newsome had 19 points and five assists for Meralco, with Javee Mocon scoring nine in his Bolts debut.
Alec Stockton had 18 points, and Justin Arana added 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the FiberXers fell behind, 77-57, in the third quarter and the deficit was just too much to overcome.
Converge previously lost an overtime game against Terrafirma last Saturday.
The scores:
Meralco 109 – Jones 29, Cansino 23, Newsome 19, Mocon 9, Bates 8, Banchero 6, Black 5, Quinto 5, Brickman 3, Hodge 2, Magbuhos 0, Almazan 0.
Converge 88 – Stockton 18, Arana 16, Kelley 13, Baltazar 12, Garcia 12, Policarpio 7, Williams 5, Concepcion 3, Clemente 2, Muyang 0.
Quarters: 22-27; 48-45; 79-65; 109-88.
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