Bolts blast Beermen, stay in hunt
Allen Durham and the rest of the Meralco team exerted their best effort with their lives on the line and came through with explosive attacks in the second half to storm to a 111-81 victory over San Miguel Beer and ensure at least a playoff for the last quarterfinals berth in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
Trailing by as many as 14 early on and staring at a 44-49 deficit at the half, the Bolts made the right adjustments and unleashed rapidfire assaults in the last two quarters on the way to a closing 5-6 win-loss card in the eliminations.
“We knew it’s a critical game, and I have to get my wind back, I have to get my lung back,” said Durham, flirting with a triple-double job with 35 points, 26 rebounds and three assists to power the Bolts to a fourth straight victory that kept them in the playoff hunt.
Durham and his teammates now have to wait for the result of the crucial TNT KaTropa-Barangay Ginebra match tonight, also at the Big Dome.
In the other game in the final playdate in the elims, Phoenix Petroleum and Blackwater slug it out for the last remaining spot in the Top Four.
Meralco gains outright quarters entry on a victory by Ginebra. TNT, however, forces a knockout duel with Meralco for the eighth and last quarters berth if the Texters beat the Gin Kings.
Reynel Hugnatan celebrated his 40th birthday with a 19-point performance laced by three big threepointers in the fourth quarter, and Chris Newsome, Baser Amer and Cliff Hodge had their own solid all-around performances as they overcame San Miguel and sent the Beermen to a sixth place finish in the elims at 6-5.
In the first game, Chris Tiu played what could very well be his farewell game, pouring in 30 points as Rain or Shine, minus an import and a number of key local players, hacked out a 107101 win over playoffs-bound NLEX.
Minus import Terrence Watson who flew home to attend to his wife and their newborn, Tiu played like an import, going 9-of-22 from the field and 9-of-11 from the stripe to non-stop cheers from ROS fans who were aware of his impending retirement.