ANTIPOLO – Meralco caught Converge flat-footed and scored a wire-to-wire 105-84 win to punch a ticket to the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals on Sunday night.
Sophomore CJ Cansino had another sizzling start for the Bolts, presiding over a Meralco onslaught that saw the team race to a 33-7 lead after just one quarter.
Cansino finished with a new career-high 29 points in leading Meralco its third straight win for a 6-4 record, becoming the seventh team to advance to the playoffs.
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"We did it the hard way. Three games in five days," coach Luigi Trillo pointed out after the Bolts kicked off their winning streak last Wednesday against Terrafirma (120-87), followed it up with another victory against Phoenix (88-78), before capping it with this 21-point blowout of the FiberXers.
Cansino had 12 of his total output in the first quarter alone while adding five rebounds and shooting 10-of-17 from the floor.
But the victory wasn't entirely about the Bolts' first-round pick in the Season 49 draft.
Veteran Cliff Hodge was also active on offense, shooting a near perfect 9-of-10 from the field for 18 points; Aaron Black came off the bench and produced 16 points and eight rebounds, and Raymond Almazan and Chris Newsome had 14 and 10, respectively.
"Aside from CJ, these are the guys who helped us out as well," added Trillo.
Converge suffered a second straight loss and fell to a three-way tie with NLEX and Meralco at 6-4.
Rookie sensation Juan Gomez de Liano finished with 27 points and tried to carry the fight for the FiberXers, who trailed by as many as 69-38 in the third period, a deficit that was too big to overcome.
Justin Arana returned from an ankle injury and finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and sophomore big man Justine Baltazar was the other Converge player in double figures with 14 points,
The scores
Meralco (105) - Cansino 29, Hodge 18, Black 16, Almazan 14, Newsome 12, Banchero 6, Quinto 6, Bates 4, Reyson 2, Pascual 0.
Converge (84) - De Liano 27, Arana 19, Baltazar 14, Concepcion 8, Stockton 6, Winston 4, Garcia 4, Muyang 2, Caralipio 0, Eguilos 0, Racal 0.
Quarterscores: 33-7; 55-32; 85-60; 105-84.
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