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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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19
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
19
2024
Meralco picked up from where it left off the last time versus Blackwater, pulling off a 119-85 rout of Commissioner’s Cup titlist Talk n Text to close in on the leaders in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Tuesday night.
It’s almost unbelievable.
The Bolts hit great, great strides and thoroughly dominated the Tropang Texters in a mind-boggling triumph that pushed Meralco to the upper half of the leaderboard with a 4-3 win-loss record.
Andre Emmett erupted for 36 points with a perfect 6-of-6 three-point shooting and Sean Anthony frolicked with a rare double-double game with 24 points and 12 rebounds with three other Meralco players putting in double-digit outputs as the Bolts scored their most lopsided win in franchise history.
The Bolts battered the Texters on all fronts in a sterling performance leading to their first back-to-back wins in the season-ending tourney.
In the process, Meralco surpassed its previous biggest winning margin in a 112-79 demolition of Air21 in 2013.
Talk n Text, meanwhile, suffered its worst defeat since an 88-122 blowout by the Petro Blaze in the same conference two years ago.
The Texters moved down to seventh place at 3-3.
“It’s nice to get some momentum and establish a winning streak,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.
“We need to try out a personality for our team. We need to play good defense. We went out and executed the game plan defensively and made a decent job on the boards. We enjoyed great teamwork on offense at the same time,” Black also said.
The Texters seemed to be the Bolts’ exact opposite in this contest. They suffered their first back-to-back defeats in the tourney.
Emmett dominated with 20 points, including a perfect 3-of-3 three-point shooting as the Bolts led as many as 16 right in the first half and carried a 61-49 advantage over into the final half.
The Bolts enjoyed the 16-point spread at 53-37 on Emmett’s 16th point coming from beyond the arc.
Earlier, Kelly Nabong tapped in a missed three-point shot by Jared Dillinger at the buzzer, giving Meralco a 23-15 advantage in the opening canto.
The Bolts built an early double-digit at 14-4 and stretched it to 13 on Emmett’s second triple in the night.
(SB)
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