Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Meralco Bolts held off the San Miguel Beermen, 106-99, to dodge the scythe of elimination in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup quarterfinals at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum on Saturday (June 27).
Import Andre Emmett and Jared Dillinger scored 28 and 21 points, respectively, for the Bolts, who forced a sudden death match on Monday.
Meralco also found an unlikely hero in Kelly Nabong, who stepped up on offense while making things rough for reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo especially down the stretch.
Fajardo, though, still scattered 30 points.
When Meralco threatened to pull away, the Beermen propelled an 9-to-nothing surge behind Ronald Tubid to tie the count at 99-all.
But they failed to fan the flames since then.
Reynel Hugnatan hit a cold-blooded triple off a broken play before Cliff Hodge scored on a putback and Emmett clamped down on defense that led to a breakaway layup to seal the win.
San Miguel import Arizona Reid had 21 points but made little impact in the final minutes.
Marcio Lassiter and Tubid added 17 and 15 points, respectively.
