Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Meralco Bolts swept the Star Hotshots, 91-88, to book their return to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup finals on Thursday evening at the Big Dome.
Allen Durham paced Meralco with 24 points, while Cliff Hodge tacked on 19 markers of his own.
After a lethargic first half, the Star Hotshots looked like they were packing their bags for an early vacation.
The Bolts looked to be far superior in the first half, going into the second half with a 54-43 advantage.
Despite being down by as much as 13 markers early in the third frame, the Hotshots turned up their defensive effort and trimmed down the deficit to 69-68 going into the payoff period.
Star finally regained the lead at the 10:16 mark of the final quarter, 73-72, through a pair of Mark Barroca free throws.
But the Bolts would hang on, and keep the ball game level at 83-all with only 1:18 left on the clock.
With 14 ticks left to play, Star only managed a three point attempt that missed the mark to give Meralco the chance to win the game with 3 seconds on the clock.
The Bolts went to Allen Durham for their final shot, but his jumper fell short and the game went into overtime.
A Jared Dillinger trey got the ball rolling in the extra period, giving Meralco a 86-83 cushion at the 4:08 mark.
Both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the net, but Ranidel De Ocampo hit a dagger blow with a jumper to give the Bolts a 88-83 advantage with 1:17 left to play in the overtime period.
A Raffy Revis bucket got Star within 88-85, before Cliff Hodge and Barroca exchanged three point bombs to leave Meralco cradling a 91-88 cushion with 11.7 ticks left on the clock.
The Hotshots forced a jumball with seven seconds left, but could not convert on their last opportunity to save their conference.
Barroca led Star with 21 markers, 12 rebounds, and eight assists, while Marc Pingris chipped in with 16 points.
After the game Meralco head coach Norman Black said that the hard-fought game was the type of contest he expected.
“I never expected Star to give up,” Black said. “We need to come out fighting, we needed to come out with a lot of pressure.”
“In the end our defense held up,” Black added.
The Bolts await the winner of the semifinal series tonite between the TNT KaTropa and Barangay Ginebra.
