By REYNALD MAGALLON
Meralco proved that lightning can strike twice and the second always the hardest hit on a gloomy Wednesday night, June 5.
The Bolts showed that their elimination round win over San Miguel Beermen was no fluke, shackling the defending champions anew in a much bigger stage with a 93-86 victory to take Game 1 of their best-of-seven Philippine Cup finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Meralco simply stuck to what it does best and banked on its suffocating defense to fuel a huge fourth quarter run that allowed them to create the much-needed separation and complete a repeat of its 95-92 win that stopped SMB’s bid for a sweep in the eliminations.
The Beermen struggled to find the crack at the Bolts’ defense despite their depth and firepower, evident in their measly 14 points in the final 12 minutes of the contest.
It was during that stretch that Meralco stepped on the gas pedal and uncorked an 11-2 spurt that turned a 72-75 deficit into an 83-72 lead midway through the frame.
SMB, with its championship poise, refused to wave the white flag and cut the deficit to just four, 85-81.But it was answered by another pivotal 8-2 spurt that built the biggest lead of the contest at 93-83 with 1:37 left.
Meralco was the only team that has beaten SMB twice this conference and the team can extend it to three in Game 2 on Friday, June 7, at the same venue.
Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome took care of the offense with the former finishing with 18 points, on top of seven rebounds and five assists while the other had a similar scoring output apart from his six rebounds and five assists.
Bong Quinto and Allein Maliksi also had their share with 15 points apiece but it was the intangibles that were provided by Cliff Hodge, Raymond Almazan and Brandon Bates, especially on the defensive end, that spelled the difference for Meralco.
Hodge only had seven points but collared 15 rebounds while Bates continued stellar defensive game recording four blocks.
With the two lurking around the paint and making June Mar Fajardo and the rest of the Beermen bleed for their points, Meralco held San Miguel to below 90 points for the first time in the conference.
SMB can blame it to the rust after a 12-day layoff before the Finals but the lack of support outside the trio of Fajardo, CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter was undeniable, especially for a deep team like the Beermen.
Fajardo had a double-double for himself with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Perez finished with 20. Lassiter added 16 but there was basically no one after them in scoring.
