Meralco survived a late charge by TNT, 19-18, to rule Leg 3 of the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 Third Conference that came to a close Tuesday at the Ayala Malls Fairview Terraces.
Diminutive Jeff Manday was the man of the hour for Bolts, who finished with 12 points and steered the franchise to a second leg championship this conference.
But Meralco needed to fend off a spirited comeback by the Triple Giga from six points down with a minute and 28 seconds and made a fight out of it.
After Manday converted on his final deuce of the game that made it 19-13 for the Bolts, TNT battled its way back behind Gryann Mendoza and Ping Exciminiano, whose two-pointer with 25 seconds to go made it a one-point game for Meralco.
Unfortunately, the Triple Giga failed to convert from there as Meralco walked away with the win worth P100,000.
Alfred Batino, Joseph Sedurifa, and JJ Manlangit accounted for the rest of Meralco’s output as the team of coach Patrick Fran duplicated the same feat it did during Leg 1 of the tournament.
Playing minus star player Almond Vosotros, Chester Saldua led the way with eight points for TNT, which took home the P50,000 runner-up purse.
Meralco earlier eliminated last week’s winner MCFASolver in the semifinals, 21-19, while TNT subdued San Miguel in their won semis encounter.
Denied a back-to-back title, MCFASolver salvaged its remaining pride by beating San Miguel for third place, 15-12.
Louie Vigil had a team-high 10 points for the Tech Centrale, who settled for the P30,000 purse.
