Meralco takes 2-0 lead

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STA. ROSA, LAGUNA—The Meralco Bolts turned a supposed showdown into nothing more than a showcase of their collective prowess.

With their offense clicking, the Bolts throttled the Star Hotshots, 98-74, Tuesday night in a crucial road trip in the PBA Governors Cup playoffs at Sta. Rosa Multipurpose Complex.

Allen Durham was virtually unchallenged all game long, scoring 18 points, grabbing 25 rebounds and tallying four rebounds and three blocks as Meralco’ s overpowering performance gave the Bolts a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series.

Star now needs to win three straight games to keep its bid alive and deny Meralco a semifinal berth.

It is a predicament TNT hopes to avoid because as far as coach Nash Racela is concerned, there’s no two ways about it: The Texters have to shape up or they’ll soon be shipping out.

“If [we’re] not better come Wednesday, we’ll lose two straight. It’s that simple,” he said.

And handing TNT a second straight semifinal loss is exactly what defending champion Barangay Ginebra will try to do when it takes the floor against the Texters Wednesday in Batangas City.

Game time is 7 p.m.

The Gin Kings hammered the Texters in Game 1, 121-94, flashing the form that helped them send off Grand Slam-seeking San Miguel Beer in the quarterfinals. The win gave Ginebra a 1-0 edge in the best-of-five series and sent TNT scrambling for solutions to avoid falling into a 0-2 hole.

“We have a lot of things to work on,” Racela said. “We were outplayed, we were out-coached, and we were out-hustled. Hopefully, [we can] correct everything [in Game 2].”

Meralco certainly didn’t need to correct anything from its Game 1 performance.

Energetic guards Chris Newsome, Baser Amer and Mike Tolomia set the tone for the rout, shooting accurately from every angle that helped the Bolts race to an early 22-point lead in a wire-to-wire finish.

The narrative of the one-sided contest hardly altered after that big bubble with Durham doing all things necessary as the reigning best import established himself not only as a defender but as a scoring threat as well.

Star’s Kris Acox had no answer for Durham, who unceasingly collected rebounds on both ends, challenged every Hotshot attempt in the lane and hammered his bulky frame inside.

Star coach Chito Victolero threw in the towel and pulled the overmatched Acox out of the battlefield early in the third with the Bolts piling on the lead to eventually reach the 30-point mark. For the second straight game, Acox failed to score in double figures.

Making matters worse for the Hotshots, Paul Lee only showed up on the floor briefly in the opening period and rode the bench throughout with a battered right knee.

Fiery playmaker Gio Jalalon also couldn’t get his high-scoring act going as well as fellow guard PJ Simon. Mark Barroca contributed 16 points but that hardly mattered.

Meralco can now go for a sweep in their series in Game 3 on Thursday.

Ginebra will try to put TNT in the same dire situation as Star’s and import Justin Brownlee, who had 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in Game 1, hopes that their rout of the Texters won’t result in a laid-back Kings squad in Game 2.

“We know TNT is a tough team,” he said. “They will come out and make adjustments and we just got to be prepared. Whatever we’re running, we just gotta run it with great purpose and do what we want to do. We’ll try to keep defending them the best way we can and try to force them into things they don’t usually do.”