CARDONA COMES OUT OF MINI-SLUMP TO LEAD MERALCO PAST GLOBALPORT
Mark Cardona bounced back from dismal performances in his last two games with his best game of the season to get Meralco back on track in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup with a 103-92 victory over cellar-dwelling Globalport Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Held to an average of just 2.5 points on a combined 2-for-15 shooting from the field in an average of 27.0 minutes a game in the Bolts’ previous two defeats to San Mig Coffee and Barangay Ginebra, Cardona erupted with a season-high 30 points, making 10 of his 14 field goal attempts and 7-of-9 from the 15-foot line while adding four rebounds, two assists and a steal as Meralco moved into a five-way tie in the middle of the standings with its 5-5 win-loss slate.
“People were expecting na Macmac will get a tongue-lashing (after his last two games) but I exactly did the opposite. I think when your players are struggling, that’s the best situation for you as a coach to step in and help out. So I just told him to calm down, not do things that are pretty much outside his comfort level and just play basketball the way you played it when you were in grade school. Just have fun and things will fall into their right place and that’s what happened,” said Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio in the post-game press conference.
The Bolts, who led by as much as 14 points in the third period, also got plenty of help from Eric Dawson who equaled his conference-high of 37 points while adding 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals, and from Chris Timberlake, who matched his career-high of 10 points which came with five boards, four dimes and two steals in a superb step-up performance for their injured starter Chris Ross.
Ross, who was suffering from a left foot sprain, still forced himself to play 12 minutes, going scoreless but tallying three assists.
Rookie Cliff Hodge was the only other Meralco player in double figures with his 11, six of them in the first period where the Bolts took the lead for good.
Globalport, which was led by the 29 points of Gary David, fell to its eighth straight defeat and deeper at the bottom of the standings with its 2-9 slate.
The Batang Pier, who also got 22 points and 13 rebounds from Sylvester Morgan and 11 and 10 points, respectively, from Sol Mercado and Mark Yee, need to sweep their last three games in the eliminations to have a shot at the eighth and final slot in the playoffs.
The Batang Pier, who also lost their first meeting 90-89 against the Bolts last Feb. 24 on a Sunday Salvacion buzzer-beating triple, were in the thick of things only in the first three and a half minutes of the game, battling Meralco to 2-all and 6-all deadlocks before being left behind for good by a Dawson-led 19-9 run by the Bolts.
Meralco, which recorded an all-time franchise fewest six turnovers the entire game, led by as much as 64-50 in the third period after back-to-back baskets by Cardona.
Led by David, Globalport made a last-ditch stand and cut Meralco’s lead to just 94-89 with 79 seconds remaining but Dawson fed Josh Vanlandingham underneath and Cardona went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in a 9-3 wind-up by the Bolts.
The game was marred by a trash-talking incident right after the final buzzer between Dawson and losing head coach Junel Baculi of Globalport but cooler heads prevented the situation from escalating.
“I just had to calm down Eric and told him ‘you’ve been a very, very good example not only to your fellow basketball players and your teammates but also to the viewing public. And a lot of imports right now are self-destructing so don’t be part of that statistic,'” Gregorio said. (FM)
The scores:
MERALCO 103 – Dawson 37, Cardona 30, Hodge 11, Timberlake 10, Salvacion 5, Reyes 4, Hugnatan 4, Vanlandingham 2, Ross 0, Buenafe 0.
GLOBALPORT 92 – David 29, Morgan 22, Mercado 11, Yee 10, Miller 7, Aguilar 5, Mandani 4, Salvador 2, Antonio 2, Belencion 0, Aljamal 0.
Quarterscores: 21-19, 48-41, 71-65, 103-92
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