Meralco sustains power

Blackwater suffers 19th straight loss

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco overcame a power outage in the second half to seal a record-setting 104-97 disposal of winless Blackwater and firm up second position in the PBA Philippine Cup in Bacolor, Pampanga yesterday.

Allein Maliksi, Raymund Almazan and Anjo Caram hit the big bailout shots as the Bolts survived the Bossing’s heated fightback from 29 points down and secured their seventh win in nine starts at the Don Honorio Ventura State U Gym.

Meralco made it a complete 0-11 shutout for Blackwater, giving the Bossing the dubious mark of having the longest losing streak in PBA history at 19 games stretching back to the 2020 bubble. The Great Taste/Presto franchise previously owned the record with 18 consecutive losses in 1980.

“We seemed to be very focused in the first half but we didn’t play as well in the second half,” noted Meralco coach Norman Black.

“We played well enough to win the game but at this point of the tournament, that’s all that really matters. We want to get as many wins as possible.”

Meralco stayed ahead of Magnolia (7-3) and San Miguel (6-3) in the race for the coveted No. 2 seeding and twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

Later, the TNT Tropang Giga went all-business despite having a lock on the No. 1 ranking and stormed to a 103-85 beatdown of Alaska.

TNT seized an early 19-point spread then fended off the Aces’ uprising to close out the elims with an impressive 10-1 card. The Aces fell to 3-5.