Belo gives Elite top view

Mac Belo. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Aside from stretching its unbeaten, franchise-best start to two games, Blackwater coach Leo Isaac is also proud that the rest of the PBA field will now start taking the Elite a little more seriously.

He’s also wary that with their newfound strength, teams will be preparing much harder for them for the rest of the Philippine Cup.

Denok Miranda hit the go-ahead basket in an 86-84 decision of Meralco last night to preserve the heroics of fancied rookie Mac Belo and give the Elite temporary solo lead in the eliminations of the season-opening conference at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Belo scored 25 points, all but four of them coming in the final two quarters, as he kept justifying pre-tournament hype surrounding his great potential that has so far turned the fortunes of the Elite around.

The 6-foot-4 former Far Eastern ace in the UAAP also had the defensive gem of the night, a block on Reynel Hugnatan with 17.2 seconds left that gave Miranda the chance to launch a twisting running jumper with 4.2 seconds remaining that broke the game’s last tie.

In the second game, TNT KaTropa rallied from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to pull out a 108-103 victory over Barangay Ginebra in the nightcap, rising to 1-1 and handing the Gin Kings a gloomy  debut.

Ranidel de Ocampo scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the payoff frame. There were a total of seven players in twin digits for the Texters, who doubled up on the Gin Kings in the fourth, 32-16.

Miranda, plucked out of retirement by the Elite in the last conference, finished with 11 points and seven assists in just 16 minutes, with big man Kyle Pascual the third man in twin digits for Isaac with 13.

Blackwater gutted out the win despite being mangled in the rebounding battle, 38-55, as Isaac exploited his talented guard/forward rotation.

“What’s in my mind right now is that other teams will be preparing harder for us,” Isaac said with a smile, admitting that before, opponents were in a relaxed preparation mode every time they see the Elite as next in their schedule.

“That’s how it was in the last two seasons,” Isaac, who finished dead-last in four of their first six conferences as a coach, said. “But now, you can slowly see some glitter [in our performance] and hopefully, the team develops to its full potential.”

Belo, meanwhile, has played every inch as good as advertised, shooting 12 of his total in the final frame capped by a three-pointer from top of the keyhole with 1:40 remaining that knotted the count at 84 and completed the Elite’s rally from five points down less than a minute back.

Cliff Hodge made 3-of-4 free throws that made it 84-79 with 2:26 remaining, but the Bolts would go into a power outage the rest of the way, with Joseph Yeo, acquired from GlobalPort in the pre-season, missing the potential game-winning triple at the buzzer.