Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Meralco Bolts stunned the heavily-favored TNT KaTropa, Monday evening at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum with a 94-88 win — to advance to the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup finals.
The Norman Black-led squad booked its first ever finals appearance in franchise history. They joined the league back in 2010.
Cliff Hodge recorded a career-high 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting.
TNT had to play sans Jayson Castro, who was ejected late in the match, after committing his second flagrant foul 1 – both of his flagrant fouls were against Chris Newsome.
The KaTropa refused to give up with Ranidel de Ocampo anchoring a late rally to trim the deficit to three, 85-88, with 1:03 left to play.
But Hodge was simply unstoppable. He buried a crucial three-pointer to put the nail in the coffin, 91-85.
Castro paced TNT with 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Meralco will face the winner of the semifinals bout between San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra in a best-of-7 title series.
The scores:
Meralco (94) – Hodge 32, Durham 19, Hugnatan 16, Newsome 15, Nabong 4, Alapag 3, Amer 2, Faundo 2, Uyloan 1, Guevarra 0.
TNT (88) – Castro 25, De Ocampo 15, Ammons 10, Rosario 10, Tautuaa 8, Fonacier 6, Williams 6, Madanly 5, Reyes 3, Rosales 0.
Quarterscores: 18-23, 40-44, 64-61, 94-88
