Macapagal carries Bolts past Road Warriors

MANILA, Philippines -- Mark Macapagal stepped up big time on the ouster of Jared Dillinger, pouring in a personal two-year best of 22 points spiked by five triples as Meralco clobbered NLEX, 97-82, in the Game One of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three quarterfinals showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

Playing extended minutes (19:03) with Dillinger failing to return after a bad fall just three minutes into the game, Macapagal responded with a 6-of-11 field shooting and 5-of-7 free throws, helping the Bolts inch within a game of a second Final Four in franchise history.

Before this setto, the former San Sebastian ace gunner played only three minutes and four seconds a game. And he produced only four points in seven games.

Meralco coach Norman Black lauded Macapagal for his heroics especially his outside shooting that opened things up for his teammates.

“Hopefully, we can build on this win. It’s a challenge how to win Game Two,” said Black.

For the record, the Bolts have been into three previous Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three showdowns. They won the openers of all those series but ended up losers in the end each time.

With his great energy and intensity, Meralco import Josh Davis dominated the boards, corralling 21 rebounds and making 16 points as against Al Thornton’s 11 boards and 23 markers.

Sean Anthony, Gary David, Reynel Hugnatan and Mike Cortez also provided much firepower as the Bolts snapped a three-game losing skein and avenged a 76-89 loss to the Road Warriors in their elims faceoff.

Meanwhile, top seeds Rain or Shine and Talk n Text take their first of two shots at the best-of-five semifinals as they tangle with No. 8 Barangay Ginebra and No. 7 Barako Bull, respectively, tonight over at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The Elasto Painters ride the momentum of a three-game romp as they tackle the Gin Kings at 5:15 p.m. Earlier at 3 p.m., the Tropang Texters seek to keep the heat of a two-game roll as they square off with the Energy.

The Bolts put together a solid job on both ends as they withstood the ouster of Dillinger and dominated a badly stunned NLEX side from start to finish.

“It doesn’t look good from what our trainer told me. He suffered an injury, something that could put him out for the rest of the conference. We’ll have him undergo MRI test to make it sure,” said Black of Dillinger’s injury.

Black’s rotation didn’t suffer on Dillinger’s exit as wingmen Macapagal, David and Anthony all came out firing.

Macapagal was easily the biggest surprise especially with his 5-of-10 three-pointers. The five-time PBA Three-Point King didn’t have a single trey in their previous games in the tourney.

Not lacking on defensive effort, the Bolts thoroughly beat the Road Warriors, leading by as many as 23 at 93-70.

“We got a good total team effort on defense against Thornton. Nobody can defend him individually. We have to rotate, recover and close out. So many things involved and we did a good job tonight,” said Black.