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| PBA |
PASAY--Meralco's awful start came to an end on Saturday night as the team finally nailed its first victory of the PBA Philippine Cup at the expense of Star with an 87-83 result at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Gary David got the better of James Yap in their scoring showdown as the former converted the crucial baskets in the fourth quarter for the Bolts to stop a five-game losing streak.
David scored Meralco's last 11 points as part of the game-turning 14-3 run to give the team an 87-79 cushion with 2:25 left.
Star, however, tried to keep the game interesting as Yap made two free throws and Ian Sangalang added a field goal to cut the lead down to four, 87-83, with 50 seconds remaining.
But the Hotshots lost steam in the end as Marc Pingris missed two crucial free throws and Alex Mallari threw the ball away in the last 15.8 seconds.
David and Yap each finished with 26 markers, but the latter's club only made 39 percent of its field goals and committed 23 errors the entire game.
Box Scores:
Meralco 87-David 26, Al-Hussaini 12, Hugnatan 10, Nabong 9, Newsome 8, Dillinger 6, Hodge 6, Atkins 5, Faundo 5, Amer 0.
Star 83-Yap 26, Pingris 13, Sangalang 9, Taha 9, Mallari 8, Simon 8, Barroca 3, Maliksi 3, Melton 2, Pascual J. 2, Pascual R. 0, Torres 0.
Quarterscores: 21-24, 43-44, 69-69, 87-83
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
David scored Meralco's last 11 points as part of the game-turning 14-3 run to give the team an 87-79 cushion with 2:25 left.
Star, however, tried to keep the game interesting as Yap made two free throws and Ian Sangalang added a field goal to cut the lead down to four, 87-83, with 50 seconds remaining.
But the Hotshots lost steam in the end as Marc Pingris missed two crucial free throws and Alex Mallari threw the ball away in the last 15.8 seconds.
David and Yap each finished with 26 markers, but the latter's club only made 39 percent of its field goals and committed 23 errors the entire game.
Box Scores:
Meralco 87-David 26, Al-Hussaini 12, Hugnatan 10, Nabong 9, Newsome 8, Dillinger 6, Hodge 6, Atkins 5, Faundo 5, Amer 0.
Star 83-Yap 26, Pingris 13, Sangalang 9, Taha 9, Mallari 8, Simon 8, Barroca 3, Maliksi 3, Melton 2, Pascual J. 2, Pascual R. 0, Torres 0.
Quarterscores: 21-24, 43-44, 69-69, 87-83
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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