AARON Black and Chris Newsome overcame their early struggles, combining in a key fourth-quarter run to lead Meralco to a 77-73 win over Rain or Shine on Wednesday in the PBA 47th Season Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Black and Newsome presided over a 10-0 run that turned a one-point Meralco deficit into a 67-58 advantage after a seesaw battle between two teams that were looking come out of a losing slump.
Black later drained a huge three - that last of his 20 points in the game - to practically seal the win with 35.6 seconds left, 76-70.
In the end, it was Meralco which snapped a two-game losing streak and improve to 4-3 win-loss in the absence of head coach Norman Black, who needed to fly to the United States to attend to his ailing mother, and his lead deputy Ronnie Magsanoc, who joined Gilas Pilipinas in the trip to the Fiba 3x3 Asia Cup.
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Luigi Trillo called the shots in their absence.
“Our prayers for coach Norman. He is going through a tough time. He means a lot to our team. He means a lot to me, too. Been together with the team here,” said Trillo, a former PBA Press Corps Coach of the Year in 2013 when he was the head mentor of Alaska.
“Just proud of everyone. It’s been eight years. The players were vocal. We talked before the game. We did a good job just helping each other,” said Trillo.
It was another sorry loss in a close game for Rain or Shine, which has lost six in a row since winning their season debut.
Black was only shooting 4-of-11 from the field after three quarters before scoring 10 in the final period, including the first five points of that critical run. Newsome's five points in that quarter sustained the surge.
Allein Maliksi had 19 points, while Cliff Hodge added 13 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Raymond Almazan had 10 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks but went down with an injury late in the fourth quarter.
Chris Banchero did not play for the Bolts for personal reasons.
Gabe Norwood had 12 points and Mike Nieto added 12 for the struggling Elastopainters.
The scores:
Meralco 77 – Black 20, Maliksi 19, Hodge 13, Almazan 10, Newsome 7, Quinto 6, Pascual 2, Belo 0, Caram 0, Hugnatan 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0, Baclao 0.
Rain or Shine 73 – Norwood 13, Nieto 12, Belga 11, Borboran 8, Torres 8, Caracut 7, Santillan 6, Nambatac 6, Demusis 2, Mamuyac 0, Ponferada 0, Clarito 0.
Quarters: 17-13; 35-38; 53-54; 77-73.
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