MERALCO seemingly had it in the bag but the Bolts faded when it mattered most last Wednesday night.
Proving it wanted it more, Ulaanbaatar Xac of Mongolia held off Meralco 83-78 in the quarterfinals of the quarterfinals of the Basketball Champions League Asia at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.
The reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions Bolts squandered an early 13-point lead and found no answer to the Broncos’ fiery run in the second half.
For Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic, who called the shots for the team in the prestigious continental club competition, the Bolts shot themselves in the foot after allowing Ulaanbaatar Xac to detonate a 22-2 binge bridging the third and fourth quarters.
“We started well and then we disappeared for a couple of quarters. Disappointing for us. We expected more,” Vucinic said. “We managed to come back towards the end of the game, had a chance to win, but probably overall, we deserved to lose that game.
“It was not our day. Shooting was really off for most of the players. I think the opposing team really deserved to be in the semifinal,” he added.
The Mongolian side, holder of seven titles in The League, clashed with reigning N. League champion Utsunomiya Brex in the semifinals at press time last night.
Utsunomiya, which fell to Meralco in the group stage 86-67, nipped Tabiat in two overtimes 94-93 in the first Last Eight tiff.
Ian Miller proved to be the biggest bane on the Philippine side with a game-high 32 points, on top of three rebounds and six assists, while Barsbold Baatar Erdene and Azbayar Altangerel added 13 and 10 markers, respectively.
Import Jordon Varnado carried the fight for the Bolts with 23 points and 14 boards, while fellow reinforcement Glynn Watson had 22, with seven dimes, five caroms, and three steals.
Bong Quinto was the lone Meralco local in double-digits with 12 markers as star playmaker Chris Newsome went scoreless in over 28 minutes after bricking all of his seven field goals.
The Bolts finished the week-long joust formerly known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup with a 1-2 record in both the group phase and quarterfinals and sent their dreams to qualify for the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore later this year to the mothballs.
