Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
ANTIPOLO — With its back against the wall, Meralco played the way a desperate team would to keep its season and title hopes alive Saturday night.
And it started with its leader Allen Durham, who was relentless from the opening tip up to the final buzzer.
Durham did the heavy lifting anew, carrying the Bolts with game-highs of 36 points and 13 rebounds to power the Bolts over the TNT KaTropa, 95-83, in Game 4 of their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals series.
“He was pretty hungry tonight. He’s been doing that the entire conference for us, and he’s the main reason why we’re in the situation we’re in now,” Bolts head coach Norman Black said.
The hulking reinforcement led the way and his teammates backed him up to make sure his herculean effort wouldn’t go to waste.
“Not just me, everybody. Everybody was hungry. We got deflections, tips, steals in key moments of the game. That’s just showing everyone’s hunger to win and get back to where we wanna go,” Durham said.
Baser Amer scored 12 points, 10 of which came in the final frame to help withstand TNT’s late comeback bid, while Chris Newsome nearly had a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
“I’m proud of them, we knew TNT was gonna try to hit us with a knockout punch, and we knew we had to weather the storm. But not only weather the storm, but send our own punch as well. Our guys did it and I’m proud of them,” said Durham.
Meralco hopes to sustain its form in the deciding Game 5 on Monday at Ynares Center here with the winner taking on Barangay Ginebra in the finals.