PBA: West wills Bolts to victory against Beermen

Mario West willed the Meralco Bolts to victory against San Miguel Beermen, 90-74, in the 2014 PBA Governors' Cup, Saturday at the Xavier University Gym in Cagayan De Oro City.

The win puts Meralco (2-5) at eighth in the standings, while the Beermen (4-3) fumbled a chance to move into second place and instead tumbled to fifth.

The Bolts were surgical in the paint, and led by Mario West, sliced their way to the hoop. Meralco dominated what was initially a tit-for-tat exchange by closing with a 12-4 run, to wrap up the first quarter ahead, 26-18.

June Mar Fajardo adjusted to Meralco's defense in the second quarter and anchored their attack. His makes prevented the Bolts from getting out in the open court and forced them to convert instead in the halfcourt. Fajardo tallied 10 points in the period and helped the Beermen pull ahead by halftime, 41-40.

In the third, West got out in the open court and scored off successive Beermen turnovers. San Miguel performed miserably from the line as well, going 3-of-8 as they fell behind by double-digits. Cliff Hodge and Gary David were on fire from outside, helping the Bolts erect a 63-47 lead.

Fajardo came up with San Miguel's second field goal with under three minutes left, and his team traded buckets as Meralco still led by the end of the third. West snuck behind the Beermen's zone for a two-handed alley-oop to punctuate the quarter, 71-55.

San Miguel dug in defensively in the fourth, and with Chico Lanete providing the spark off the bench, ignited a 13-6 run to get within single digits, 77-68. But West simply stepped up and took charge of the game by scoring nine of Meralco's next 11 points, and assisting to Reynel Hugnatan beneath the hoop, create an 88-72 gap with a minute and change left. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Meralco 90 - West 40, Hodge 12, Hugnatan 10, Guevarra 8, David 8, Dillinger 7, Cortez 2, Ballesteros 2, Ildefonso 1, Caram 0, Bringas 0

San Miguel 74 - Fajardo 22, Williams 17, Tubid 10, Mercado 8, Kramer 6, Santos 5, Lanete 4, Chua 2, Lutz 0, Maierhofer 0, Duncil 0

Quarter scoring: 26-18, 40-41, 71-55, 90-74