Meralco Bolts’ late power surge propels them past NLEX

Meralco Bolts’ late power surge propels them past NLEX

by rick olivares

Rage Against the Machine has this song titled, “Take the Power Back.”

While the song is political in nature, in a lateral way, it fits the Meralco Bolts after their stirring comeback win over sister team, NLEX, last Sunday, 108-105, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Facing elimination after making it to the finals of the season-ending Governors’ Cup in the previous two seasons, the Bolts summoned enough pride to restore a measure of luster to a difficult season. Behind Allen Durham and Baser Amer who combined for 58 points, Meralco found its clutch gene that was missing during the six-game slide; its longest in team history.

Amer scored on an and-one to notch the count one final time, 105-all, while sending NLEX import Aaron Fuller out of the game on account of six fouls.

The third year pro grabbed a huge offensive rebound and called for time as Meralco worked one final offensive thrust to win the game.

Amer wasn’t done with his late game heroics as he drilled a triple for the game’s marginal points, 108-105, with 15 seconds remaining.

Durham preserved the lead when he swatted Juami Tiongson's potential game-tying three-point attempt as time expired.

The tag team of Amer and Durham carried the Bolts in the fourth quarter as they respectively scored 17 and 16 points.

Durham, in his third stint with Meralco, scored a ton of points for the Bolts finishing with 36 points in addition to 18 rebounds and seven assists.

Amer who struggled mightily in the previous outing against Northport, tallied 22 point. Baser also had seven rebounds and four steals for good measure.

Chris Newsome was also big for the Bolts are he finished with a near double double of 14 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals while Reynel Hugnatan added 12 points, 5 caroms, and 4 assists in the win.

Fuller led NLEX with 31 points with Larry Fonacier (21 points, five assists, and four rebounds) and JR Quinahan (17 points and eight rebounds) contributing for the Road Warriors.

The win gave the Bolts a 2-6 record with three matches to play. NLEX suffered a third straight defeat to drop to a 4-5 slate.

Scores:

Meralco 108 - Durham 36, Amer 22, Newsome 14, Hugnatan 12, Hodge 10, Caram 8, Lanete 2, Salva 2, Jamito 2, Faundo 0, Atkins 0, Tolomia 0.

NLEX 105 - Fuller 31, Fonacier 21, Quinahan 17, Ighalo 9, Galanza 6, Tallo 5, Marcelo 4, Taulava 3, Rios 3, Soyud 2, Baguio 2, Paniamogan 2, Tiongson 0, Monfort 0.