PBA: Purefoods outlasts Meralco for third straight victory

Peter June Simon scored 18 points as the Purefoods Star Hotshots defeated the Meralco Bolts, 77-74, on Sunday.

James Yap added 11 points, but it was the solid play of Mark Barroca and Yousef Taha off the bench that helped Purefoods. Barroca had 16 points and five rebounds, while Taha added 14 markers, nine boards, three assists and two denials.

Purefoods won its third straight game in the 2015 Philippine Cup to improve to 4-3, while Meralco fell to 4-4.

The Bolts held on to a 59-52 lead heading into the fourth, before Allein Maliksi led the charge to start the fourth. A Maliksi jumper at the 8:50 mark tied the game at 61-all.

A Simon and one gave Purefoods the lead at the 6:03 mark, with Taha and Joe Davance chiming in to make in a seven-point game with 1:24 left. Gary David hit a three with 25 seconds left, while Dillinger canned a pull up with 15 ticks remaining to trim the lead to three, 77-74. Simon committed a turnover soon enough, giving Meralco a change to send the game into overtime, but Dillinger missed the three.

Gary David spearheaded Meralco's campaign with 20 points while Jared Dillinger had 12. Cliff Hodge had 12 rebounds, but struggled with a 3 of 13 clip form the field for nine points. No other Meralco player scored in double digits. - Renee Fopalan, GMA News


The scores:

PUREFOODS 77 - Simon 18, Barroca 16, Taha 14, Yap 11, Devance 7, Pingris 4, Maliksi 4, Mallari 3, Melton 0

MERALCO 74 - David 20, Dillinger 12, Hodge 9, Macapagal 9, Caram 8, Hugnatan 4, Atkins 3, Cortez 3, Buenafe 2, Sena 2, Ferriols 2, Guevarra 0

Quarters: 18-16  40-33  52-59  77-74