Hot-shooting Bolts trim Aces, stay alive

TOUGHER defensively and sharper on the other end, Meralco played with a lot of sting last night and took its best-of-five Oppo-PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Four series with Alaska to a decider after an 86-70 win at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

What started out as a deliberate type of game, the Bolts used one scorching run to end the third period before totally breaking away in the fourth to keep alive their aspirations of making a championship series for the first time in franchise history.

Game 5 is set tomorrow at 7 p.m., also at the fabled Big Dome in Cubao, with Meralco obviously having all the momentum it needs and Alaska going back to the drawing board to see what went wrong.

“We have to remain hungry,” Meralco coach Norman Black, no stranger to winning titles with two other teams before taking on the assignment with the Bolts, said of what they need to do in the rubber match, where the winner advances to face finalist-in-waiting Rain or Shine.

The Bolts tried to break away early in the third before the Aces crept to within 52-54 with just over a minute left in the quarter.

But Meralco closed out with an 8-0 tear, highlighted by a long Jarred Dillinger triple from the opposite free throw line to beat the clock.

ALASKA sparkplug Calvin Abueva scores unmolested off Meralco’s Cris Newsome and Cliff Hodge (partly hidden) in last night Game 4 of their semifinal series won by the Bolts at Smart Araneta Coliseum. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

“We lived another day,” said Black, who earlier rued his Bolts’ lack of effort in a one-sided Game 3 loss. “We got back down to basics as far as our defense is concerned.”

Chris Newsome, scoreless in the first three period, hit seven points in a 15-4 run to open the fourth as the Bolts broke the Aces’ collective backs by racing to a 77-56 lead, with still 7:02 left to play.

The Bolts defense held the Aces scoreless for a four-minute span during that run until Rob Dozier made a free throw with 6:16 left.

“Now that we’re here, we’ll try to win Game 5,” Black said.

Dillinger, also the Game 2 hero, paced all Meralco shooters with 17 points, with import Arinze Onuaku scoring 16 that went with as many rebounds on top of five blocks in a dominating performance inside the paint.

“Arinze had a lot of energy today unlike in Game 3, where we basically died out in the second half,” Black said.

The scores:

MERALCO 86—Dillinger 17, Onuaku 16,Hodge 14, Faundo 12, Caram 8, Newsome 7, Alapag 6, Hugnatan 6. Bono 0, Buenafe Ry 0, Amer 0.

ALASKA 70—Dozier 18, Abueva 10, Jazul 10, Hontiveros 8, Baclao 6, Thoss 6, Banchero 5, Exciminiano 3, Baguio 2, Dela Rosa 2, Dela Cruz 0, Eman 0.

Quarters: 19-16, 36-34, 62-52, 86-70