A PROMISING start in the PBA Philippine Cup continued for the Blackwater Elite as they chalked up their second win in as many games in the tournament yesterday at the expense of the Meralco Bolts, 86-84, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Had it rough last year in the Philippine Basketball Association that saw them near bottom-scraping much of the time, the Elite have come out strong in the season-opening conference on the strength of a roster bannered by young up-and-comers.
Blackwater was kept at bay by the veteran squad of Meralco in the first half but found a higher gear as the game progressed to come out with the win.
The Elite kept things close in the third period, with rookie Mac Belo, Art Dela Cruz and Denok Miranda leading the charge, before seizing the lead with less than a minute to play. They finished the quarter holding a 68-67 lead.
Meralco would start the payoff quarter strong, overtaking Blackwater. But Mr. Belo would rally his team back to withstand the Bolts run.
The Bolts however continued to stay ahead as the quarter wound up.
Gilas cadet member Belo though would not allow his team lose ground, hitting one big shot after another just as Meralco threatened to pull away.
He tied the game at 84-all with less than two minutes to play with a triple.
Mr. Miranda then took over, hitting the go-ahead basket with 4.2 seconds left.
Meralco still had a chance to send the game into overtime or win but Joseph Yeoโs shot as time expired failed to hit the mark.
โIn this game against Meralco we had to show character and good enough the players exactly did that on both ends of the court,โ Blackwater coach Leo Isaac said after the game.
Mr. Belo topscored for the second straight time for Blackwater with 25 points.
Kyle Pascual had 13 markers while Mr. Miranda had 11 points.
