MANILA, Philippines — Meralco zapped top-ranked NorthPort, 111-94, to crowd the upper half of the team standings and stay in the hunt for a quarterfinals bonus in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Bolts, with their main guys slowly but surely barging back to form after nursing injuries all-conference long, pulled away in the second quarter behind a 19-9 tear to close the half with a double-digit lead on their way to a dominant win.
Seasoned guard Chris Banchero uncorked 25 points on a 10-of-15 clip laced by four rebounds, six assists and a steal as the full-strength Meralco side jumped to 6-3 to forge a logjam at third spot.
Meralco is currently tied with Ginebra and guest team Hong Kong Eastern in a tightrope race to the Top Two for a win-once playoffs bonus.
Super import Akil Mitchell dropped 30 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and five steals to lead the way with Chris Newsome adding 15 points against the Batang Pier, the tourney’s biggest revelation atop of the 13-team field.
Eight more players racked up the board, with Bong Quinto and Jansen Rios scoring eight points each. CJ Cansino and Jolo Mendoza chipped in seven and six points, respectively.
But for head coach Luigi Trillo, it was Meralco’s defense that spelled the difference in toppling the usually potent NorthPort firepower, which settled for a dismal 3-of-16 shooting from downtown with 14 turnovers.
“NorthPort has been playing really good basketball. They deserved every win as they’ve been taking down a lot of quality teams. They’re the real deal but today, we just played better defensively,” said Trillo.
Later, Converge (7-3), led by Alec Stockton’s 21 points, four rebounds and five assists, drubbed Rain or Shine (5-3), 103-96, for a big jump from joint fourth to solo second.
Jordan Heading (17), Justin Arana (15), Kevin Racal (13) and Justine Baltazar (8) threw in significant help.