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[av_heading heading=’Meralco Bolts gets ‘twice-to-beat’ edge in Gov’s Cup ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Jared Dillinger waxed hot in the endgame as Meralco Bolts scored a come-from-behind 104-99 win over Mahindra Enforcer in the 2016 Oppo PBA Governor’s Cup last night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Trailing 84-78 late in the final quarter, Dillinger led a huge run by Bolts to build a 90-86 lead. With Enforcer threatening to within 93-89, Dillinger uncorked a huge three-pointer to push Bolts to 101-94.
Dillinger finished with 22 points, all in the second half, for Meralco, which captured the fourth and last “twice-to-beat” advantage over Enforcer heading into the quarterfinals.
Reinforcement Allen Durham led the way with 34 points, while rookies Baser Amer and Chris Newsome contributed 16 and 12 points, respectively, for Bolts, which is aiming to go deeper in the playoffs round this time.
Trailing by as much as 15 points early in the third canto, Bolts leaned on inside baskets of Durham and Dillinger to snatch a 60-59 lead. Back-to-back triples by Dillinger gave Bolts a 68-62 advantage.
Enforcer quickly answered back on conversions by import James White, Aldrech Ramos and Juan Paolo Taha to take a 73-69 lead early in the fourth frame on an inside basket by Jason Ballesteros.
Mahindra went on to build a six-point advantage twice in the final canto on triples by Rommel Nino Canaleta, but a huge endgame run by Bolts behind Dillinger, Amer and Newsome spelled the difference.
White top-scored with 22 points, while Ramos and Taha added 20 and 16 points, respectively, for Enforcer, which is on a five-game losing skid in its first-ever playoff appearance in the franchise./PN
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SCORES
MERALCO 104 – Durham 34, Dillinger 22, Amer 16, Newsome 12, Faundo 7, Hugnatan 4, Hodge 4, Nabong 2, Al-Hussaini 2, Alapag 1, Uyloan 0, Caram 0
MAHINDRA 99 – White 22, Ramos 20, Taha 16, Revilla 10, Yee 10, Canaleta 10, Ballesteros 6, DiGregorio 5, Guinto 0, Agovida 0, Jaime 0, Bagatsing 0, Paniamogan 0
QUARTERS – 26-29, 41-53, 69-71, 104-99
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