QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) – The Meralco Bolts proved that they truly deserve their seeding in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Quarter Finals after a 4th quarter comeback to eliminate the NLEX Road Warriors, 104-97, and clinch a semi-finals berth.
The Road Warriors were leading most of game and at one point in the 2nd quarter had led as much as 12 points. The Bolts patiently waited for their turn to bounce back but NLEX made an 11-0 run in the 4th quarter to lead the game at 79-70.
Reynel Hugnatan came up big for the Bolts as he scored 10 of his 20 points in the 4th quarter and push his team closer to striking distance coming in the last two minutes of play. With the combined efforts of his teammates — Jared Dillinger’s layup and Cliff Hodge’s 3-point play — the Bolts led by four points with only a minute left in the game.
NLEX’s import Al Thornton tried to bring back his team to the game by trimming the lead to 96-94 with only 53.2 seconds on the clock. But Arinze Onuaku immediately answered back and scored the basket when it was needed the most to bring back the lead to four and that helped them seal the game.
Hugnatan had 7 boards to go with their team best of 20 points. He got help in scoring with Hodge finishing with 19 points while Dillinger added 18. Onuaku finished with 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds before fouling out of the game.
“It was a hard fought game,” said Meralco Bolts’ coach Norman Black.
“Reynel Hugnatan carried us for a long time when Arinze (Onuaku) was struggling. Chris Newsome came up with some big baskets for us towards the end of the game and of course, J.D. (Jared Dillinger) played well for us the entire game. So it is really a team effort today.”
In a losing effort, Al Thornton exited the Commissioner’s Cup with 34 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks.
The Meralco Bolts, who will have at least five days of rest, now await the winner of the Talk N’ Text Tropang Texters and the Alaska Aces. (Ernest Hernandez)
The scores:
MERALCO 104 – Hugnatan 20, Hodge 19, Dillinger 18, Newsome 15, Onuaku 13, Amer 9, Alapag 8, Caram 2, Buenafe Ro. 0, Buenafe Ry. 0, Ferriols 0.
NLEX 97 – Thornton 38, Lanete 21, Enciso 9, Borboran 8, Taulava 8, Anthony 6, Alas 4, Villanueva J. 2, Villanueva E. 0.
Quarters: 19-22, 38-43, 70-71, 104-97
Photo Credit : Peter Baltazar / Sports On Air
