Bong Quinto sparked Meralco’s push in the extra five minutes to power the Bolts to a 121-117 overtime escape over Rain or Shine and barge in the win column of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Meralco banked on a strong start in the extension with Quinto scoring seven straight points in the team’s decisive 10-0 run that created the separation, 112-104, with 2:59 left capped by a triple by Allein Maliksi.
The Bolts then held on as they weathered Elasto Painters rookie guard Adrian Nocum’s solo 13-point outpour for a 1-1 win-loss record.
“Credit to this guy. Bong was another point of attack for us, he went to the post. When (Chris) Newsome fouled out in the fourth, he was handling the ball in the pick and roll. And we went to Bong,” Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said of the Letran College product who finished with 16 points.
“In the end, we trusted him a lot. He made sound decisions. Luckily, we got the win,” he added.
Quinto, who missed one of his two free throws in the last 1:06 of regulation that knotted the game at 102, had six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
Maliksi, who had one last heave from the backcourt as time expired in regulation, fired 26 points off 9-of-18 field goal shooting while Cliff Hodge and Newsome chipped in 16 markers each for the Bolts, who rebounded from a tough loss to Blackwater in the opener.
“It’s tough for us because we had four days of practice before our first game and in the Blackwater game, we had a good first quarter and fourth quarter. But there are quarters that you feel that we’re not playing solid. We do one good solid, one bad. One good, one bad,” Trillo said.
“But this time they were on their flow. We got some multiple good plays on offense and defense.”
Anjo Caram scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth period for Meralco.
Nocum saw his career-high 29 points go down the drain as the Elasto Painters, who watched frustrated head coach Yeng Guioa get ejected with 52.1 seconds after a second technical foul, dropped their second game in as many starts.
Leonard Santillan had 25 points while Gian Mamuyac added 15 markers for Rain or Shine.
Box scores:
MERALCO (121) – Maliksi 26, Newsome 16, Quinto 16, Torres 16, Hodge 16, Caram 13, Black 6, Pascual 5, Mendoza 4, Rios 2, Pasaol 1, Banchero 0, Jose 0
RAIN OR SHINE (117) – Nocum 29, Santillan 25, Mamuyac 15, Belga 9, Datu 9, Clarito 9, Caracut 8, Norwood 6, Belo 3, Borboran 2, Demusis 2, Ildefonso 0
Quarters: 28-20, 49-42, 80-77, 102-102, 121-117
