Meralco bounces back, deals GlobalPort its 10th loss

MANILA, Philippines -- Meralco eased the pain of its heartbreaking loss to Rain or Shine Wednesday with a heads-up game versus Globalport , fashioning out a 101-92 win to regain solo fourth place in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.

The Bolts redeemed themselves from their 98-102 loss in overtime to the Elasto Painters as they bounced back with the key win over the Batang Pier, virtually eliminating the Mikee Romero-owned team in the playoff race.

“It’s a very gratifying win after an emotional loss to Rain or Shine. For tonight’s game, I really had to ask help from my assistant coaches. Thank God, I have a solid crew of assistants who were with me all the way,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.  

“Of course, if you lose a game the way we did against RoS, you won’t have enough sleep. The loss hit me like a haymaker and I told my assistants to be more active tonight,” Gregorio added.

Deputies Jong Uichico and Ronnie Magsanoc sat close beside Gregorio on the bench and the Meralco main men stepped up on the floor as the Bolts notched a sixth win against five losses.

Globalport virtually bombed out of contention for the quarterfinals in suffering a 10th loss against a lone win, at the expense of Meralco in their first meeting.

Meanwhile, Petron and Barako Bull try to improve their spots in the middle of the chart as they slug it out in the Lucena stop of the Phoenix Fuel on Tour at the Quezon Convention Center at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.

“I think we’re not complacent tonight,” said Gregorio, obviously in reaction to coach Yeng Guiao’s dig after their game Wednesday.

“Coach Ryan (Gregorio) has said they were just complacent when they lost to us by 25. They might have become complacent again in this game,” said Guiao then.

Gregorio, however, said he has so much respect to the veteran RoS mentor “that I don’t want to be dragged to a word war.”

“I will never win. Might as well end it right now,” Gregorio said.

Mark Cardona poured in 26 points, Sol Mercado tossed in 24 and rookie Kelly Nabong produced 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Bolts overcame the Batang Pier’s tough challenge.

The Batang Pier engaged the Bolts in a battle on explosive games by Gary David (33 points) and Rey Guevarra (20).

The count was tied at 83-all with 4:13 to go when  Mercado, Nabong and Ronjay Buenafe teamed up in a decisive 10-to-nothing run to win the game for Meralco.

NOTES: PBA commissioner Chito Salud assessed nine individuals a total fine of P70,000 for the 10 flagrant infractions committed in the tumultuous Rain or Shine-Meralco tiff Wednesday. JR Quinahan and Ryan Arana drew the biggest fines of P20,000 each for FF penalty 2. Larry Rodriguez, Cliff Hodge and Kelly Nabong were fined P5,000 each for FF penalty 1 while Macmac Cardona, JayR Reyes and Ronnie Marias drew lighter fines of no more than P1,600 for simple technical fouls. For his third “T” in the season, RoS coach Yeng Guiao was slapped a fine of P2,400.