Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 20) – The Meralco Bolts are back to their winning ways after beating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 91-86, in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Tony Bishop led all scorers with 26 points and 14 rebounds while Allein Maliksi added 19 markers off the bench, as the Bolts recover from their first loss of the conference in their previous game against NorthPort.
Bishop and Maliksi delivered the shots in the fourth canto that gave Meralco the lead, after being behind for most of the first three quarters.
In the final 23 seconds of the game, Bishop split two free-throws for a 90-86 lead, but Elasto Painters swingman Javee Mocon scored an inside shot after three seconds for a one-possession deficit.
New Bolts guard Chris Banchero easily converted a lay-up off a Meralco timeout that eventually secured their fifth win of the conference against one loss.
Rain or Shine import Henry Walker missed his three-point attempt with 10 seconds remaining in the match, which led to a foul on Bishop who again made one of his two charity shots.
Meralco head coach Norman Black, who clinched his 701st win in the PBA with the victory, emphasized the defensive adjustments the Bolts made in the second half.
“In the second half, we just looked on the floor and said we have a good matchup here so we attacked that matchup until they stopped it. Luckily for us, Allein (Maliksi) was able to score and Bong (Quinto) was able to score. We were able to get some points off the pick-and-rolls using certain matchups,” Black said during the post-match press conference.
Walker finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Elasto Painters, which dropped to a 3-5 record.
The Scores:
MERALCO 93 – Bishop 26, Maliksi 19, Almazan 17, Newsome 8, Belo 6, Banchero 6, Black 5, Caram 4, Quinto 2, Hodge 0
RAIN OR SHINE 88 – Walker 24, Nambatac 12, Belga 12, Borboran 10, Nieto 10, Caracut 8, Mocon 7, Asistio 3, Ponferada 2, Santillan 0, Norwood 0, Jackson 0
Quarterscores: 20-23, 45-51, 64-65, 93-88
