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| Marvin Jones outplayed Bol Bol. Peter Baltazar |
MANILA—Meralco did just enough to hold on to a 110-106 win despite a late run from TNT in their PBA Commissioner's Cup showdown on Tuesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Bolts, who led from start to finish, raced to a 98-78 advantage with 9:11 to go and were on track to secure the blowout victory.
However, a three-point foul by Chris Banchero led to three free throws from Jordan Heading that opened a 27-9 Tropang 5G run that cut the lead to two, 107-105, with exactly 60 seconds remaining.
"You have to credit TNT also. They hung around. We were up big at the half, and then the third quarter, they kept at it. Five minutes left, we were up 12, but they persevered," Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo said.
TNT even had a chance to take the lead when Jason Brickman missed a floater from the free-throw line with Bol Bol securing the rebound.
Heading found RR Pogoy open for the go-ahead three off a drive-and-kick, but Pogoy airballed his long-range shot.
Bol managed to grab the offensive rebound, but Chris Newsome stole his pass intended for Pogoy, and Newsome went 2-for-2 from the foul line to up Meralco's lead to four, 109-105, with 14.3 seconds left.
Javee Mocon opted to foul Bol right after Heading inbounded the ball to the South Sudan star, but Bol, who has been struggling from the charity stripe all conference, split his charities, which only cut the lead to three, 109-106, with 13.2 seconds to play.
Marvin Jones somehow kept the door open for TNT to force overtime when he too split his free throws with 10.2 seconds to go.
Bol, though, went for a heavily contested four-pointer that hit nothing but air, and Heading's loose ball save ended at the hands of Bong Quinto, who ran the remaining time on the clock.
“A win is a win. We will take it,” added Trillo.
Jones finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds, and two assists to lead the Bolts, who have now won back-to-back games to move up to a tie with the NLEX Road Warriors for second place at 4-1, just behind the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
CJ Cansino added 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
Bol led TNT, which fell to 2-2, with 28 points on 9-of-17 field goals, 12 rebounds, and four blocks, but he was 9-of-16 on free throws.
Heading added 21 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting on threes, three rebounds, and four assists.
The scores:
Meralco 110 – Jones 29, Cansino 19, Almazan 12, Hodge 10, Mocon 9, Quinto 7, Newsome 7, Banchero 6, Black 4, Brickman 4, Pascual 3.
TNT 106 – Bol 28, Heading 21, Oftana 10, Galinato 8, Nambatac 7, Ganuelas-Rosser 6, Chua 6, Khobuntin 6, Ferrer 5, Pogoy 5, Nieto 2, Castro 2, Nava 0, Williams 0, Aurin 0.
Quarters: 27-21; 54-40; 88-71; 110-106.
