Meralco makes finals for 1st time, ousts No. 1 TNT

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Cliff Hodge had the game of his life and Meralco sealed its first ever finals appearance after knocking off top seed TNT, 94-88, in Game 4 of their best-of-five semifinals series in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Monday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Hodge set a career-high 32 points, including a dagger of a 3-pointer, as the Bolts will march into the championship round for the first time since coming into the league in 2010.

“I’m really happy for the team, for the players. When you go to work everyday with your guys and they show good attitudes, they work hard, they put in the extra work, and most importantly, they try to embrace the game plan, they try to embrace the strategies that you come up with, then they try to execute those strategies,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black, who is making his return in the big stage for the first time since steering Talk ‘N Text to its third straight Philippine Cup title in 2013. “That’s what really makes a good basketball team.”

“I think we’ve come a long way since the first conference, where we really were pretty bad and I’m happy to finish the year on a good note. Obviously, it’s not over yet, we still have a championship series to play but I cannot be more proud of my players tonight for the effort they put in, and I’m really happy for the Meralco community. Basically, we practice within the compound so we see the employees and the security guards and everybody’s who’s in that compound every single day, and I’m sure they’re happy for the players and I just thank them for their support,” Black added.

With the KaTropa threatening, Hodge drilled in a clutch triple for a 91-85 cushion with 49.6 seconds left that slammed the door on TNT.

“What a game by Cliff Hodge. That was unbelievable,” Black said of his starting forward, who went 12-of-19 from the field and hit three triples in close to 47 minutes of play. “He picked tonight to have a career game, and we needed every single bit of his energy, we needed every single bit of his production, and that just goes to show that he’s really grown as a player and hopefully, he’ll start to get some recognition for that as we go forward.”

Jayson Castro singlehandedly kept TNT in striking distance late in the game, but the KaTropa were dealt with a big blow after their superstar guard got thrown out with still 2:20 remaining for hitting Bolts rookie Chris Newsome in the face as he was taking a shot.

Castro was ejected for picking up two flagrant foul penalty 1s. His first flagrant foul came in the first quarter and it was also against Newsome, who took a shot in the face as he was going for a layup.

Allen Durham added a double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds while Hugnatan and Newsome sustained their solid performances with 16 and 15 points, respectively for Meralco.

The fourth-ranked Bolts beat the odds in the semifinals after defeating the KaTropa, who were 11-1 heading into the semifinals, three consecutive times.

“This is just a great feeling. I entered Meralco a couple of years ago and actually came from Talk ‘N Text. I entered Meralco with the idea that hopefully, we can build the program up and have the program become successful and we knew it will take some time,” said Black, who was appointed head coach of the Bolts in 2014, replacing Ryan Gregorio. “In our first year, I basically coached the team that I had. This year, I broke up the team and tried to start anew, and you saw the result in the first conference where we were horrible, we were terrible.”

Just eight months ago, Meralco was the worst team in the league after finishing 1-10 in the Philippine Cup.

“But because we were able to latch on to two very, very good imports in the second and third conference and with the local players developing and improving as the year went on, this is the result. So I always admit that Allen durham is the cornerstone, he is the foundation, but the local players have really stepped up, particularly Cliff Hodge in this game tonight.”

The scores:

MERALCO 94 – Hodge 32, Durham 19, Hugnatan 16, Newsome 15, Nabong 4, Alapag 3, Amer 2, Faundo 2, Uyloan 1, Guevarra 0.

TNT KATROPA 88 – Castro 25, De Ocampo 15, Ammons 10, Rosario 10, Tautuaa 8, Fonacier 6, Williams 6, Madanly 5, Reyes 3, Rosales 0.

Quarterscores: 18-23, 40-44, 64-61, 94-88