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MANILA, Philippines – After dropping its last three games in the eliminations, Meralco took it out against sister team NLEX to win in Game 1 of their best-of-3 quarterfinals series in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Bolts led by as much as 22 points before closing out the Road Warriors, 97-82, to start the quarterfinals.
The Bolts used a balanced attack against the Road Warriors, with Mark Macapagal leading the charge.
The former 3-point king tallied 22 points to go with his 3 rebounds. Josh Davis only had 16 points, hauled down 21 boards for Meralco. The Bolts also got 14 and 13 from Sean Anthony and Gary David, respectively.
Meralco’s scorers challenged NLEX’s defense by consistently attacking the basket to build a 15-point first-quarter lead.
Al Thornton and Jonas Villanueva cut the deficit to 6 points, 28-34, but the Bolts surged again to cap the second quarter with a 47-36 halftime lead.
Mike Cortez’s jumpers and Macapagal’s triples widened the gap to 66-46, but Mac Cardona and Thornton instigated a 15-3 run to pull the Road Warriors within 61-69.
Sensing heavy threat, the Bolts went all out in the fourth and jacked up their lead, 89-67. NLEX failed to recover.
Thornton finished the game with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Cardona chipped in 17.
It was the first time for NLEX to reach the playoffs since debuting in the PBA last year.
Photo: Mark Cristino/ABS-CBN
This story was republished with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com
