MERALCO leaned on a big fourth quarter push to humble Magnolia and moved within a win of a coveted finals slot in the PBA Governors Cup yesterday.
With import Tony Bishop showing the way, the Bolts carved out a crucial 101-95 decision over the Hotshots in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinals duel at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Bishop sizzled with a game-high 27 points, to go with 10 rebounds and two assists, while Chris Banchero backed him up with 23 markers, four boards, and five dimes.
Chris Newsome also had 16 points and Allein Maliksi 10 for Meralco, which took a 2-1 series lead and will go for the clincher on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A knockout match, if necessary, will be played on Friday also at the Big Dome.
The Bolts scored a fitting follow-up to their 81-75 victory in Game 2 last Friday.
Meralco coach Norman Black admitted his charges showed up with less effort in the first half.
“We thought that there were some areas that we were not doing well at tonight. We were not rebounding the ball in the first half,” Black said. “They’re (Hotshots) outrebounding us and we got to a pretty decent start, but we stumbled a little bit in the first half. “This season, it’s going to go one way or another for you.”
The Hotshots led 50-46 at the half but behind Bishop, Newsome, Raymond Almazan, and Bong Quinto, the Bolts took the driver seat’s 76-72 heading into the fourth quarter.
A Newsome three-pointer punctuated a 13-3 blitz by Meralco that gave the Bolts a 95-85 advantage at the 4:33 mark of the fourth stanza.
Down but not out, Magnolia pulled to within 92-95 on Jio Jalalon’s two free throws, only 56 ticks left that proved to be too little, too late as Meralco held its ground en route to the triumph.
Mike Harris paced the Hotshots with 24 points and 17 rebounds, while Mark Barroca had 15 markers.
Ian Sangalang and Jalalon contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively for Magnolia.
Despite the big win, Black is convinced his team still came up with things they need to address in Game 4.
“I’m happy we won, but I don’t think we played great tonight,” he said.
“We’ll have to go back and look at the tape, see what we did good and see what we did bad.”
