Bolts gather momentum heading into rematch with Beermen

Cliff Hodge (left) gets some rest. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

After posting two wins out of two games in contrasting fashions to open defense of its PBA Philippine Cup title, Meralco is eager, but wary, to take on the team it beat in the Finals last year.

“They haven’t been winning in a while, but they’re gonna come back,” coach Luigi Trillo said of their next assignment minutes after the Bolts thumped the Terrafirma Dyip by a wide margin, 118-80, on Sunday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The lopsided win enabled the titleholders to seize the early lead after three playdates of the season’s most prestigious competition, going into their massive test in the San Miguel Beermen, who opened their own campaign with a 98-89 defeat of the NLEX Road Warriors the previous night.

READ: PBA: Meralco clobbers Terrafirma by 38 for 2-0 start

They will square off on Wednesday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum, with Meralco set to sport its uniforms from the Robert Jaworski-led Micaa title run of 1971, while San Miguel wears white tops and red shorts from the 1982 season.

San Miguel seems hell-bent on getting up to its old swagger after failing to make the playoffs of the Commissioner’s Cup, with CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo leading the charge.

That is not lost on Meralco, which is also keen on getting a big result against the powerhouse early stage to gain more momentum in its title defense.

“They’re the oldest team, but they are also the most experienced,” said Trillo. “We’re excited to play them, but make no mistake about it, we wanna gain ground if we can take care of that early.”

The blowout result, the biggest winning margin in franchise history, also allowed the Bolts to rest some of their main guys like Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge while giving role players a chance to shine, with rookies CJ Cansino and Kurt Reyson getting 19 and 16 points, respectively. INQ