Bishop, Bolts rap bossing

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco turned to full power and fried hard-luck Blackwater, 98-77, for a rousing debut in the 46th PBA Governors’ Cup yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Tony Bishop marked his PBA arrival with 28 points, 13 rebounds, three shot blocks and two assists to spark the Bolts to the 21-point triumph in Day 2 of the league’s Big Dome games with a live audience.

Nards Pinto led a solid local support as he scored 18 with seven assists and two steals coming off the bench. Pinto fired 11 of his output in the second canto and provided the juice for Meralco’s game-changing 32-20 run.

“It’s exactly what we really hoped for. We wanted to get off to a great start this conference and try to catch up with teams who have already played a lot of games,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.

The Bolts sent the injury-plagued Bossing reeling to their third straight setback, extending their long-standing skid to 22 games overall since last year’s All-Filipino.

Bishop is filling in the big shoes of Meralco’s resident import Allen Durham and showed he can get the job done.

“He can shoot from the perimeter and get points inside and more importantly, he rebounded the basketball and blocked some shots defensively,” said Black of their Panamanian reinforcement.

“He has a lot of versatility in his game, an all-around player. I don’t think he’s the give-him-the-ball, get-out-of-the-way type of player but he fits well with what we do in terms of ball movement and player movement.”

Despite the absence of JVee Casio, Josh Torralba, Kelly Nabong. Kobe Paras and Mike Ayonayon due to various injuries, the Bossing fought the Bolts on even terms in the first 12 minutes.

The Bossing were still in the thick of things early in the second before Pinto, Newsome and Bishop triggered a 17-5 salvo that pushed the Bolts to a 44-29 tear.

“I think the combination of Nards Pinto and Anjo Caram coming off the bench defensively was a difference-maker and changed the momentum of the game as soon as they entered in the second period,” noted Black.

Newsome added 11 while Raymund Almazan posted 10 markers and nine boards, aside from doing defensive duties on Blackwater import Jaylen Bond.

Bond finished with 18 plus 15 rebounds as Rashawn McCarthy paced the Bossing with 19.

Meanwhile, reigning Philippine Cup TNT Tropang Giga (0-1) seek to rebound from their 102-100 debut loss to NLEX in today’s 3 p.m. curtain-raiser against Alaska (2-1).

Holder Barangay Ginebra (1-0) eyes back-to-back wins against winless NorthPort (0-3) at 6 p.m. in its first gig with its “Sixth Man” finally back in the stands.

Notes: The PBA was pleased with the turnout of 1,480 fans in the first day of the “open-door” games last Wednesday. “Hindi ko akalain na ganito kadami agad kasi siyempre natatakot pa sa COVID at magbabayad ka pa at gagastos ka. Pero nag-respond yung mga fans kaya nakakatuwa,“ Commissioner Willie Marcial said.