Meralco bounces back to tie semis series with Alaska

A balanced attack kept Meralco in the series. KC Cruz

The Meralco Bolts relied on a strong finish to defeat the Alaska Aces, 92-87, and tie their best-of-five Commissioner's Cup semifinals series at one game apiece on Wednesday at SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

"Great effort by our team in the second half," said Meralco coach Norman Black. "They showed their ability to come back."

Arinze Onuaku led the Bolts with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists, while Jared Dillinger came off the bench for 20 points in 27 minutes of play. Chris Newsome and Reynel Hugnatan, meanwhile, contributed 19 and 15 points, respectively.

"Arinze was much more effective today," said Black, noting Onuaku's off-night in Game One. "Give a lot of credit to JD [Dillinger] for opening up the defense by hitting outside shots.

The Aces approached the final turn ahead by nine, 70-61, but the Bolts buckled down to business in the end game, outscoring Alaska 31-17 to earn the victory. 

Tied at 82-all with three minutes remaining, Dillinger rung in back-to back triples to lifts the Bolts ahead, 88-85. An Onuaku basket stretched the lead to five with 13 ticks to go, while Alaska's Rob Dozier and Hugnatan exchanged baskets in the last 10 seconds to settle the final score.

Dozier had a great outing for Alaska, tallying 28 points with 10 boards off a 55 percent shooting clip. Calvin Abueva chipped in 18 off the bench, but the rest of the locals did not contribute much. 

Cyrus Baguio was the only other Aces local in double digits with 10, while Chris Banchero tallied nine markers. The rest of the squad combined for just 18 points. —JST, GMA News