MERALCO regained its winning ways behind a big fourth quarter, beating Terrafirma, 107-91, on Wednesday in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Bong Quinto scored 22 points for the Bolts, who went on a 17-7 tear to turn a six-point game into a rout. They improved to 2-1 (win-loss) in Group A while playing without their top star Chris Newsome due to an injury.
The Dyip continued to struggle, falling to 0-3.
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Quinto nailed three consecutive threes during that key stretch in the fourth quarter, incidentally after sustaining a left knee contusion for slipping on a wet spot on the floor.
Allen Durham led the Bolts with 23 points and 12 rebounds as Meralco bounced back from a 93-73 defeat to TNT last week.
Aside from Newsome, Meralco was also without active consultant Nenad Vucinic due to an illness and Aaron Black, Raymond Almazan, and Toto Jose due to injuries.
Next man up
“Next man up. We are confident with our guys,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. “I thought CJ helped Bong and Allein. Sometimes, they were the ones helping New dati. Now that New is injured, kailangan nila ng tulong. I think we did well today where it didn’t matter who scored and the ball swung around.”
Chris Banchero had 17 points while rookie CJ Cansino supplied 16 points and four rebounds for the Bolts in 17 minutes of action. Allein Maliksi added 12 points in his first game this season.
Stanley Pringle once again led Terrafirma in scoring with 19 points while contributing five rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Import Antonio Hester had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Paolo Hernandez helped Terrafirma slice the gap to six from 21 and finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
The scores:
Meralco 107 – Durham 23, Quinto 22, Banchero 17, Cansino 16, Maliksi 12, Mendoza 5, Hodge 4, Caram 4, Torres 2, Pascual 2, Bates 0, Pasaol 0, Rios 0.
Terrafirma 91 – Pringle 19, Hester 18, Hernandez 15, Tiongson 9, Standhardinger 9, Sangalang 7, Carino 4, Ferrer 4, Cahilig 3, Hanapi 3, Olivario 0.
Quarters: 31-19; 56-43; 79-67; 107-91
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