DOWN BY 20, MERALCO GRINDS WAY BACK TO BEAT AIR21

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“We are not going to lose,” Brian Butch said to his team as Meralco saw itself down big with only a quarter left.

Air21’s new import Wesley Witherspoon was shooting the lights out in his debut for the Express and had already logged in 39 points after three quarters.

But the 6-foot-11 Butch had other things in his mind.

After being down by as much as 20 in the third quarter, Butch captained a 9-0 Meralco run to start the fourth, which was then answered by a 5-0 blast by Witherspoon, 91-77 with 8:27 to play.

That was when Bolts coach Ryan Gregorio had enough.

“We had to double team. That’s what we needed to do. No one man can stop that guy,” Gregorio said.

And his ploy worked as Meralco climbed from a 20-point hole and pulled the rug under Air21, 109-98, to notch their third win its last four games in the 2014 PLDT Home TVolution PBA Commissioner’s Cup Sunday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

“Tonight’s game was really a test of will for us. We made necessary runs, and the necessary baskets. We were down by a big margin, we did not put our heads down, and found ways to extricate from a deep hole and we were rewarded with a victory,” Gregorio said.

Outworked by his counterpart all game long, the 6-foot-11 Butch rose up to the challenge and scored 21 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, to go with a massive 31 boards, as Meralco finished the game on a 27-2 run to steal the game.

“A 40 and 31 performance – it’s unheard of. That speaks highly of him, with so much pressure in his back, and he plays like this. It’s a testament to his strong character,” Gregorio said of his import. “I thought I’ve seen it when he had 42 and 24, but this is off the charts. Forty points and 31 rebounds, and were climbing from a deep hole. I’m running out of superlatives, but that was really one hell of a game.”

For his part, Butch said, “The one overriding thing all game that we had is that we all believed in each other. We support each other and we play together as a team. I’ve been here for three weeks, and the chemistry we have as a team is just amazing. That’s why we won this game. We did a phenomenal job of finding ways to win the game.”

Despite his amazing performance in the game, Butch still gave credit to their team captain, Jared Dillinger, saying, “JD took over the game for us.”

“JD was the x-factor, and he won the game for us in the end.,” he said.

Finally tasting his first win in the conference, Dillinger added 20 points, none bigger than his two baskets with less than a minute remaining to give Meralco a 104-98 breathing room, prompting Gregorio to say, “it’s been a while since Jared Dillinger played that way.”

Prior to Friday, the Bolts were curiously 0-2 in the games Dillinger played and were 2-0 in the games he was out because of an illness.

John Wilson chipped in a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Gary David contributed 11.

“That was a fantastic win for us. We’ll enjoy it tonight and we’ve got to get ready for our Wednesday game. We have to keep this thing rolling,” Butch said.

It was an also a debut for the ages for the Express’ Witherspoon, as he finished with 44 points and nine rebounds, but failed to continue his hot streak in the fourth as he only had five when his team badly needed him the most.

“That was really an 80’s-90’s throwback performance by Witherspoon. I haven’t seen anything like it, and good thing that our special defense in the fourth quarter worked and kind of stymied him a little bit,” Gregorio said of Air21’s new reinforcement, who came in to replace Herve Lamizana.

“We haven’t seen him play before, and all we got were highlights from YouTube. We didn’t realize that he can put the ball down, get three-four dribbles and get to the basket, and he was simply perfect from the free throw line. You can’t really do anything. The best thing you can do with that kind of import is to choose your poison. We double-teamed him right away and hope that the other guys wouldn’t score. I thought (Mark) Borboran, (Simon) Atkins, and (Eric) Camson had open shots, but that were the kind of gambles that we had to do in the fourth. It’s pretty much anybody but Witherspoon and it worked,” Gregorio added.

Mac Cardona had conference-high 22 points for the game, seven of which coming in the third quarter when Air21 erected their big lead while Asi Taulava finished with 11 points and nine boards.

Gregorio added, “We’re ready to win tonight, and that’s what we were really preparing for.”

“It was simply an amazing comeback, and this game, pretty much, I’ll cherish as a basketball coach. I haven’t seen anything like it,” he also said. (RL)

The scores:

MERALCO 109 – Butch 40, Dillinger 20, Wilson 12, David 11, Hidge 9, Caram 6, Mandani 4, Hugnatan 3, Guevarra 2, Artadi 2, Ildefonso 0, Al-Hussaini 0.

AIR21 98 – Witherspoon 44, Cardona 22, Taulava 11, Yeo 7, Borboran 4, Villanueva 4, Camson 4, Atkins 2, Poligrates 0, Ramos 0, Burtscher 0.

Quarterscores: 25-18, 42-53, 68-86, 109-98.

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