PBA: Petron Blaze a win away from the semis, defeats Meralco

MANILA, Philippines – Petron Blaze pulled its game together in time to put away Meralco, 91-84, to gain the upperhand in their best-of-three quarterfinals series Friday in the 2011 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Arwind Santos poured in nine points in the third quarter while Alex Cabagnot and Denok Miranda combined for 19 of the Boosters’ total output in the fourth quarter.

“I told them we have to be aggresive, dapat maganda yung start natin sa second half,” said Petron head coach Ato Agustin.

Cabagnot, once again, took care of the big shots as he scored a rare back-to-back four-point play and gave the Boosters a safety cushion midway the fourth.

Miranda tooks turns with Cabagnot in scoring as he followed up with six straight points for Petron, finishing with 11 points.

The Bolts, behind Sol Mercado and Gabby Espinas, tried to rally back in the game and trimed the lead down a manageable six points, 86-80, with still two minutes left.

But Cabagnot, who scored only four points in the first three quarters, had other plans as he spoiled Meralco’s run with a jumper to virtually seal off the victory.

Santos finished with 19 points along with 12 rebounds, two assists and four steals, Cabagnot had 14 points, seven rebounds and eight assists while comebacking rookie Chris Lutz added 18 points.

Mercado and Espinas notched 18 and 13 points, respectively, for the Bolts, who would have to win in their next encounter to forge a rubbermatch.

At stake is a meeting with defending Philippine Cup champion Talk N’ Text in the semi-finals.