By REYNALD MAGALLON
Meralco zapped Converge in the second half and cruised to a dominant 116-88 victory to end the first round of eliminations atop the Group A standings in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Undermanned and all, the Bolts continued to find power sources within their bench to shut down the FiberXers and end the first round on a three-game winning streak for a 4-1 record in the standings.
Allen Durham and Chris Banchero led the charge for Meralco although it was their shocktroopers that proved the biggest difference with Anjo Caram and Alvin Pasaol both putting up solid contributions to fill in the void of their injured teammates.
Cliff Hodge was the latest to be bitten by the injury bug as he joined Raymond Almazan, Allein Maliksi, Aaron Black and Norbert Torres on the sick bay.
Still, there’s no power outage whatsoever for Meralco as Durham posted a solid double-double of 27 points, 14 rebounds and six assists while Banchero provided ample support with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Caram gave the Bolts the huge lift in a spot start with 16 points while Pasaol was a surprise sparkplug off the bench with 12 points. Jolo Mendoza had 10.
The two were also crucial during a huge third quarter run where Meralco created some separation behind a 19-6 spurt that broke what was once a 61-all deadlock.
The Bolts took an 80-67 lead after that run and they kept control the rest of the way as the lead reached to as high as 30 in the waning minutes.
Brian Hopson tried to carry the fight for the FiberXers with 33 points, six rebounds and six assists but it was not enough to prevent Converge from falling to its third straight defeat.
Alec Stockton had 13 points while JL Delos Santos and Jeo Ambohot finished with 12 and 10 for the FiberXers who played without star big man Justin Arana.
