Meralco-Pilipinas finishes 4th in FIBA Asia Champions Cup

The Meralco Bolts will be thinking for a long time about the late turnover in the third quarter that led to a buzzer-beating 3-point shot that sparked the SK Knights and changed the momentum of the game.

The Korean team started the fourth quarter with an 8-0 blast that allowed them to take control of the game en route to a 91-87 victory against the Meralco Bolts to claim the fourth spot in the 2018 FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Meralco got a big opportunity late in the fourth quarter as import DaJuan Summers fouled out, forcing the SK Knights to play with an all-local crew. However, just as they'd done throughout the ball game, the Koreans simply dumped the ball to their bigger guards who posted up Meralco's smaller defenders in Baser Amer and Anjo Caram.

With Allen Durham trying to rally Meralco in the final minutes, the SK Knights got key baskets from Choi Bukyung, Choi Wonhyuk, and Lee Hyeonseok to seal the game.

Diamond Stone led Meralco with 32 points and 13 rebounds while Durham finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Veteran shooter Nino Canaleta led all locals with 15 points with Amer chipping in 12, all scored in the first quarter.

Meralco got a big break early in the game as Summers committed two personal fouls in the first minute. However, the Korean squad read Meralco weakness, which was the size of their backcourt and adjusted accordingly.

Amer led the charge from 3-point range for the Bolts in the opening quarter. The heady guard already had 12 points in the first 10 minutes as he shot 3 of 4 from the 3-point range.

The SK Knights, who lost to Alvark Tokyo in the semifinals, led 27-25 at the end of the opener.

In the second quarter, Meralco got going early. Thanks to seven quick points from Stone, Meralco built its biggest lead of the first half 34-27. However, they suffered a dry spell as the three-point shots started to fall for the Knights.

A layup made by Kim Geonwoo capped a 17-0 blast for Korea giving them a 44-34 lead. They held on to a 46-38 advantage at the half.

At the half, Stone led Meralco with 17 points while his fellow import Durham only had four markers alongside three rebounds. On the other side, it was summer leading the rally for the Knights with 19 points.

Canaleta sparked a rally in the third quarter for the Bolts as he nailed four triples to bring Meralco back into the ball game. The Bolts were up 63-59 in the dying seconds of the third but they turned the ball over, allowing Choi Wonhyuk to beat the buzzer with a long triple.

Summers did a lot of damage for the SK Knights with 26 points before fouling out of the ball game but four of their locals also scored in double digits to back him up.

The Bolts closed out their campaign in the 2018 FIBA Asia Champions Cup with a single win against four losses but they still finished fourth, which was an improvement from the fifth-place ranking that Chooksto-Go Pilipinas had last year. —