Meralco brought its A-Game offensively and defensively in dumping Converge, 105-99, on Sunday in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center.
The Bolts survived a late surge from the FiberXers and their good start in the third quarter turned out to be a good investment for Meralco, holding its rival to just a lone basket during a two-minute span in the second half.
That resulted to a 12-2 run as the Bolts padded their 18-point half-time lead to a 67-39 advantage.
Just as expected, Zach Lofton presided over his team’s offense but the Bolts displayed balanced firepower while also shackling down the FiberXers.
Meralco’s target on defense was Jamil Wilson, who was held to just 13 points on a woeful 4-of-18 shooting from the field.
Wilson was the missing link offensively for the FiberXers, who made a last-ditch effort of launching a rally in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bolts, 38-25.
But the FiberXers, behind Justin Arana’s double-double performance of 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Alec Stockton’s 21 points, simply didn’t have enough time to stage a reversal.
It was the fourth straight victory of the Bolts, who climbed into a share of second to third places with Phoenix Super LPG with identical 6-1 win-loss cards.
Converge, which just cracked the win column when it defeated Terrafirma, 103-94, on 13 December, absorbed its seventh loss in eight games to stay at the bottom of the standings.
“Last time around it was (Venky) Jois, but this time it’s (Jamil) Wilson and Cliff Hodge was a hard match-up for them,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. “The rest of the team just focused on our game plan.”
Meanwhile, nine-time PBA champion coach Jong Uichico was appointed by NLEX as its first assistant coach.
Uichico, 61, will join a solid crew manned by head coach Frankie Lim and was widely credited for steering San Miguel to six PBA titles, two with Barangay Ginebra and one with TNT.
