MANILA – Meralco Bolts opened their 2023 PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign with a 107-102 victory over Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Reinforcement Suleiman Braimoh Jr. had an all-around game of 34 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks as the Bolts gave head coach Luigi Trillo a winning debut.
Chris Newsome chipped in 20 markers, including four triples, Allein Maliksi contributed 16 points off the bench, while Clifford Hodge had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds for Meralco.
Meralco set the tone early behind Braimoh as they cruised to a 39-30 lead after the first quarter and widening it to its biggest of 63-50 at the half following conversions from Braimoh.
The Painters played catch up almost the entire second half as they trimmed the deficit to as close as 95-97 late in the fourth quarter, but the Bolts answered with three-point connections from Braimoh and Maliksi to seal the win.
Dajuan Summers tallied 27 points to lead the Painters, Keith Datu made his PBA debut with 16 markers, while Leonard Santillan, Andrei Caracut and Jhonard Clarito ended with 16, 15 and 13 markers, respectively.
In the first game, Blackwater Bossing used a huge third quarter rampage to score a lopsided 103-84 victory over Converge FiberXers to give head coach Jeffrey Cariaso a winning debut.
Holding to a 50-40 lead at the half, the Bossing went on a huge run to start the third quarter behind import Chris Ortiz, Jvee Casio, Rey Suerte and Tyrus Hill to build a 61-42 advantage.
Blackwater’s lead went on to reach as high as 27 points late in the third quarter via a conversion from Mike Ayonayon before holding off Converge’s attempted fight back in the final quarter.
Ortiz led the Bossing with 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Casio and Ayonayon chipped in 15 and 13 markers, respectively, while Suerte, Jeth Troy Rosario and Hill ended up with 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bossing./PN
BOX SCORE:
MERALCO 107 – Braimoh 34, Newsome 20, Maliksi 16, Hodge 10, Dario 8, Almazan 6, Torres 5, Quinto 3, Caram 3, Black 2, Pasaol 0, Rios 0, Pascual 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 102 – Summers 27, Santillan 16, Datu 16, Caracut 15, Clarito 13, Nambatac 7, Mamuyac 4, Belga 2, Demusis 1, Norwood 1, Asistio 0, Belo 0.
Quarterscores: 39-30, 63-50, 77-70, 107-102.
