MANILA, Philippines — Meralco was quick to pounce on the early exit of NorthPort import Venky Jois due to a right foot injury.
With Jois limping out barely eight minutes in, Allen Durham and the Bolts made a killing inside to lay the foundation to a 114-104 triumph in the PBA Governors’ Cup yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Durham banged in 23 points and hauled down 13 rebounds to power the Bolts to a 6-2 record in Group A and a seat in the quarterfinals alongside group leader TNT (6-1).
Meralco sent Batang Pier to a two-game skid and 3-5 overall, outside the Magic 4 of the group at fifth spot at presstime.
Three-time Best Import Durham led Meralco’s pounding of the Batang Pier interior that became more vulnerable without Jois, who was stretchered off the court and brought straight to the hospital for tests after hurting his foot at the 3:14 of the first canto.
The Bolts heavily outrebounded the Batang Pier, 63 to 29, grabbing 31 off the offensive glass that resulted to 20 second-chance points. NorthPort managed only five offensive rebounds, converting these to two markers.
Meralco started its breakaway late in the second and went on to lead by as many as 14 at 77-63. Arvin Tolentino and the all-Filipino Batang Pier mounted an uprising in the fourth but Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome took charge of the mop-up, allowing Durham to get extended breather on the bench heading home.
Newsome finished with 20 markers plus 11 boards as Banchero produced 19 spiked by three triples. Rookie CJ Cansino shot 12 including a pair of four-balls as Brandon Bates matched his scoring output.
The Bolts welcomed back Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge from sickbay and got a combined 11 markers and six boards from the duo.
“We did a good job off the boards, we outrebounded them and we beat them on offensive rebounding,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo.
“Clearly, we won the game but we feel we still have some things to improve moving forward to the playoffs,” he added,
Tolentino rifled in a game-high 28 for NorthPort in the absence of Jois, who accounted for four points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in eight minutes of action.