PBA: Meralco clobbers Terrafirma to lock up second seed

Meralco Bolts’ Alvin Pasaol during a PBA Governors’ Cup game. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–Meralco played full throttle all of Saturday night to whip Terrafirma, 124-82, in the PBA Governors’ Cup.

The Bolts raced to a 10-2 lead to open the contest at Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila and then never looked back, ultimately locking up the No. 2 spot going into the crossover quarterfinals.

“We were pretty solid all around. I think the nicest thing was whoever came in contributed. In all fairness to the team, they were sharp,” said Luigi Trillo whose charges ended the elimination phase with a 7-3 win-loss record.

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Alvin Pasaol showed the way with 21 points and eight rebounds, rookie CJ Cansino tossed in 15, to preserve the early efforts of import Allen Durham whose 14 points and seven rebounds paved the way for a collective effort that should augur well for the squad in the knockout stages.

Meralco could play either Barangay Ginebra or San Miguel—two clubs who they share history with—in a best-of-five duel next round.

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Antonio Hester had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Louie Sangalang added 17 more, while youngsters Didat Hanapi and Paolo Hernandez pumped in at least 11 each for the Dyip, who tried to salvage a win even without injured stars Juami Tiongson and Christian Standhardinger.

The Dyip, from a promising Philippine Cup campaign last season, are back to their old, horrendous self as they finished with a 1-9 record.