The Meralco Bolts survived a late meltdown and held off the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 85-78, nabbing their fifth win in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup Thursday at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena.
The Bolts nearly squandered a 23-point lead they built in the third period, but did just enough in the endgame to come up with the victory, to improve to 5-3 in the standings.
The Bolts brewed the perfect storm after halftime when they unloaded 28 big points and held the Elasto Painters to just seven in the third canto. From a 48-46 advantage, Meralco unleashed a brutal 22-2 run capped off by a Cliff Hodge layup. A bucket from Jammer Jamito gave Meralco its biggest lead of 23 points, 74-51. The Bolts were a step quicker in that pivotal period while their opponent was left scrambling for points.
Chris Newsome led Meralco with 17 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Baser Amer, meanwhile, submitted an all-around performance of 14 points, six boards, and seven dimes.
"We really talked about trying to come out strong in the third quarter," said Meralco coach Norman Black. "In some of the past games that has been one of our weaknesses, coming out of the dugout strong at halftime. So I was very, very happy with our defense. Our offense was clicking against their zone defense because they played a zone almost in the entire game. In that third quarter we were making our shots and executing very, very well."
Rain or Shine, however, countered with a furious rally in the final frame. Rookie Vince Tolentino proved to be the spark plug for his team, scoring six points to help his team get back into the game. Elasto Painters also came to life defensively, forcing turnovers on the Bolts.
Triples from Adrian Wong and Mark Borboran put Rain or Shine back into the fray with a minute remaining. Free throws from Norbert Torres then made it a six-point game, 82-76, with 49.2 seconds left.
Newsome gave Meralco the cushion it needed after converting his free throws late to seal the win.