Meralco Bolts boost playoff bid with win over woeful Terrafirma

ANTIPOLO, December 11 ------ Meralco didn’t waste any time pulling away from Terrafirma and cruising to a 120-87 victory in its return to action in the PBA Philippine Cup.

Chris Banchero sparked the Bolts’ early surge, scoring 10 of his 13 points right in the first quarter, while CJ Cansino announced his comeback from an ankle injury by pacing the team with 20 points and eight rebounds. The Bolts stretched an eight-point lead to 55-33 just before the halftime on their way to improving to an even 4-4 - enough to remain in the magic circle of eight that will make it to the playoffs.

Terrafirma suffered its seventh straight loss – tying the longest losing skid this conference – and fell to a 1-8 record to formally bow out of the quarterfinals race. “I didn’t think na lalaki yung lamang ng ganito because of the way Terrafirma has been playing (the past games),” said coach Luigi Trillo. “Just a different mindset (by the players) today. I think they (Bolts) know how important this game is.”

Chris Newsome added 12 points, Bong Quinto 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, and Raymond Almazan also with 11 and nine rebounds for Meralco, which was coming off a 93-91 win over the Macau Black Bears in the EASL Home and Away Season 3 game last weekend in Ilagan, Isabela. Mark Nonoy carried the fight for Terrafirma with 22 points and Paolo Hernandez added 18. But the Dyip missed the offensive contributions of top scorer Jerrick Ahanmisi, who was held to 3-of-12 shooting for a total of seven points. The wingman from Adamson was averaging a team-best 17.3 points before the game.

This marks the fourth straight conference Terrafirma will be missing the playoffs and 20th in the last 21 conferences, according to PBA resident statistician Fidel Mangonon III. The last time Dyip made the quarterfinals was in the Season 49 Philippine Cup. In franchise history, Terrafirma only made the playoffs twice out of the 26 conferences played in 11 seasons.

The scores

Meralco (120) – Cansino 20, Banchero 13, Newsome 12, Quinto 11, Almazan 11, Rayson 9, Maliksi 7, Bates 7, Black 6, Rios 6, Comia 6, Hodge 6, Jose 6, Pascual 0, Caram 0.

Terrafirma (87) – Nonoy 22, Hernandez 18, Sangalang 13, Ahanmisi 7, Paraiso 6, Catapusan 5, Rivero 5, Mariano 4, Bravo 3, Zaldivar 2, Hanapi 2, Olivario 0, Bataller 0.

Quarterscores: 24-16; 59-42; 90-62; 120-87.

Source: spin.ph