PBA 3×3: Meralco cops leg title to end drought

Meralco Bolts claimed PBA 3×3 Season 3 Leg 1 title. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–Meralco ended a string of frustration as it finally bagged a leg title in the PBA 3×3 Tuesday at Ayala Malls Glorietta.

Behind a balanced scoring, the Bolts nipped guest team MCFASolver, 15-13, to claim the opener of Season 3 Third Conference for its first championship in almost a season.

The last time the team of coach Patrick Fran emerged as the winner was in the third leg of Season 2 First Conference.

This time, Alfred Batino and Jeff Manday made sure the title won’t slip away from the grip of the Bolts this time as they finished with five points each to carry the team pastTech Centrale.

Trailing 4-5 early on in the Leg Final, Meralco went on a 9-3 run to take a five-point lead which it never relinquished en route to the purse of P100,000.

Last conference’s scoring champion Brandon Ramirez finished with six points to lead MCFASolver, which gained P50,000 for finishing runner-up.

The two teams set up an unlikely finals showdown after turning back their respective semifinal opponents.

The Tech Centrale escaped past Cavitex Braves, 20-19, while the Bolts made short work of Purefoods TJ Titans, 21-13.

The Braves later consoled themselves by taking third place after beating the Titans, 21-18. They took home the prize money worth P30,000.

Cavitex earlier eliminated grand slam-seeking and undermanned TNT, 19-17, in the quarterfinals.

The scores

Third place
Cavitex (21) – Napoles 7, Gonzaga 6, Paniamogan 4, Ighalo 4.
Purefoods (18) – Gozum 8, Rivera 5, Raflores 3, Bunag 2.

Finals
Meralco (15) – Batino 5, Manday 5, Caduyac 3, Sedurifa 2.
MCFASolver (13) – Ramirez 6, Tumalip 3, Andrada 2, Vigil 2.