Meralco’s Chris Newsome. –PBA PHOTOS SMALL
MANILA, Philippines – Meralco showed his defense on the jump and held on all night Wednesday to beat Barangay Ginebra, 90-73, in the 2022 Philippine PBA Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
The Bolts have a man ahead of every gunman and have his hands on the passing lanes to keep crowd favorites under 17 points in the first three quarters.
And with Norman Black still in the US to care for his ailing mother, the club proved a resilient collective, holding on to a fifth win in eight encounters that kept them in the middle of the pack.
“We really need this win to hope for the playoffs. And we need this for coach Luigi’s (Trillo) birthday,” said Cliff Hodge, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Chris Newsome led Meralco with 19 points, while Chris Banchero and Bong Quinto took 17th and 10th, respectively. Raymond Almazan added just six in the scoring effort but finished with 15 rebounds and two blocks.
“I guess it’s their feet catching up with them (the Gin kings),” said Trillo, who was standing for Black. “But it’s really nice to see so many boys joining this team.”
Scottie Thompson has 14, Nard Pinto 12 while twin towers Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger are at least 10 each for Barangay Ginebra, losing their second game in a row and dropping to 6-3, being dropped from the race for an incentive of two beat times
MATTERS ARISING
Ginebra all lost TNT and Magnolia. Hotshots and Bolts have a chance to tie Tropang Giga with an 8-3 record with Gin Kings set to finish last if there is a deadlock between those teams.
“Obviously, there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed. But you know, the only way to fix those things is together. I can’t point to one specific thing. There’s a lot of stuff that we need to analyze, a lot of soul searching,” said Richard del Rosario of Gin Kings.
Fill in for Coach Tim Cone, Del Rosario says that Ginebra is now thinking too much about promoting two-beats. What bothers them more now is the way the team has lost the last two games.
“That’s how we lost the last two games,” he continued. “That’s what we need to deal with. We must show more teamwork and solidarity, especially in times of adversity. That’s what we’ll be dealing with over the next few days. “
“Coach Tim will be back, which is good news. He’ll be back on Saturday morning so he’ll be here for the next game. I’m sure his presence will give the players a huge boost,” said Cone’s longtime assistant.
With the win, Meralco had a string of successes, producing all sorts of boosters for its killer home featuring Magnolia and San Miguel Beer. The Bolts finished their qualifier against Terrafirma.
Ginebra, meanwhile, will have two more games to go. The Gin Kings played NorthPort next, and then finished their preliminary round with Phoenix.
The point:
MERALCO 90 – Newsome 19, Banchero 17, Hodge 14, Quinto 10, Black 9, Maliksi 8, Almazan 6, Pascual 4, Johnson 3, Baclao 0, Jose 0, Hugnatan 0, Caram 0, Belo 0.
GINEBRA 73 – Thompson 14, Pinto 12, J.Aguilar 11, Standhardinger 10, Tenorio 7, Pringle 6, Chan 5, Caperal 4, David 2, Mariano 2.
Regions: 24-16, 51-33, 72-50, 90-73.
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