By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
THE Meralco Bolts notched their first win in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup finals after taking Game Three of their best-of-seven affair with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 94-81, last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Facing the possibility of going down 0-3 in the series and having to do the near-Sisyphean task of sweeping the remaining games if they are to win the title, the Bolts gutted it out with the defending champions to hack out the win and infuse life to their championship hopes.
The opening half of the contest was tightly fought with both teams having their bright moments and going back and forth.
Meralco claimed the opening quarter with the score at 23-21 but the Kings would flex their muscles in the succeeding quarter to get the better of the Bolts by halftime, 47-46.
Barangay Ginebra went on a 7-2 run to start the third quarter and build a six-point cushion at the 8:54 mark, but Meralco would fight back to tie the knot at 60-all in the next four minutes before taking the period altogether, 66-64.
The Kings opened the payoff quarter with back-to-back triples care of Joe Devance and import Justin Brownlee to reclaim the lead 70-66 with 10:16 to go.
Meralco sued for time thereafter to stop the momentum from completely swinging back to Barangay Ginebra.
The Bolts showed resilience in coming back, retaking the lead, 75-74, with under seven minutes remaining.
Barangay Ginebra answered back with an and-one play by Japeth Aguilar to go up anew, 77-75.
Meralco though would claim another six-point lead, 83-77, thereafter after a free throw by Garvo Lanete, from an Aguilar technical foul, a basket by import Allen Durham, and a triple by Reynel Hugnatan.
Mr. Durham added another three points the conventional way to pad their lead to nine, 86-77, only to be answered by LA Tenorio with a basket from beyond the arc.
But the Meralco import once again imposed his will to give the Bolts another two points and more cushion, 88-80, with 2:04 left in the contest.
It was a lead that the Bolts who build on the rest of the way, punctuated by triples from Mr. Hugnatan and Jared Dillinger en route to the win.
Tension, however, happened as the seconds ticked away when Meralco decided to call a timeout despite the outcome already known.
It did not sit well for Ginebra coach Tim Cone, who stared at the Meralco bench throughout the lull and refused to shake the hands of winning coach Norman Black as they walked off the court.
Mr. Durham led the Bolts with 38 points, 20 rebounds, four assists, two steals and five blocks.
Mr. Hugnatan came off the bench to produce 22 points, going 7-of-12 from three-point country, to cushion the impact of the loss of Ranidel de Ocampo in the third period due to an apparent calf injury. Chris Newsome had seven points and 12 assists.
Barangay Ginebra, meanwhile, was led by Mr. Brownlee with 15 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks while Messrs. Tenorio and Aguilar had 14 each.
“We had to grind it out for 48 minutes. Ginebra is a tough team,” said Mr. Durham after the game.
“We concentrated on making stops and that did it for us. We got Game Three, now time to take Game Four,” he added.
Game Four of the series is set for tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.