Balanced Bolts make it 3 straight wins, beat Painters

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Meralco stayed in playoff contention after beating Rain or Shine, 91-82, in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts racked up their third straight win and moved up to ninth place with a 4-6 record, just half a game behind for the eighth and last quarterfinals slot.

“I think it’s been nine quarters of very solid defense on our part starting with the last quarter of the NLEX game and going to the Magnolia game and even tonight,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.

“Everyone was operating as a team, closing out, challenging their shooters. We made mistakes but overall, our defense was good. On the other end, we had good balanced scoring tonight with a lot of guys contributing. Durham did not have to dominate the game offensively because other guys stepped up and really helped.”

Allen Durham had game-highs of 19 points and 20 rebounds while five others finished in double-digit scoring for the Bolts led by Mike Tolomia’s 17 points.

Mike Tolomia came off the bench and gave us a big lift today,” Black praised.

Tolomia and Durham had seven points each in the fourth quarter, where Meralco broke loose from a tight contest after going on a 14-3 run capped by a Cliff Hodge jumper that made it, 88-77, with 2:31 left. Hodge chalked up a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Norbert Torres paced the Elasto Painters (2-6) with 16 points while Terrence Watson had 14 points and 13 rebounds.