Meralco beats NLEX for second straight win

Cliff Hodge and the rest of the local crew stepped up for Meralco. KC Cruz

The Meralco Bolts relied on the stellar showing of their locals to defeat the NLEX Road Warriors, 101-95, on Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

"This was a really good team effort on our part today," said Meralco coach Norman Black. "We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. We really showed we are a team this game. It was a really hard-fought game."

Aside from import Allen Durham's 31 points, 17 boards, and five assists, five other Bolts tallied double figures.

Jared Dillinger and Kelly Nabong scored 12 points each to account for Meralco's bench points, while Chris Newsome chipped in 12 points with seven assists, six steals, and four boards. Cliff Hodge paced the locals with 17 points, while Brian Faundo added nine points.

Up by as much as eight points after a Nabong basket with 11 minutes left in the fourth, Sean Anthony strung five straight points for NLEX to trim the Meralco lead to as little as three, 74-71.

A Walker basket knotted the game at the 3:08 mark, 84-all, but Baser Amer came alive to hit seven straight points to stretch the lead back to seven entering the final minute. Insurance charities from Durham and Newsome put the game away.

Walker paced NLEX with 38 points, nine boards, and five assists, while Sean Anthony tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Emman Monfort and Asi Taulava accounted for 12 and 10 points, respectively.

With the win, Meralco improved to 5-3 for solo fifth place, while NLEX dropped to seventh place at 3-4. —JST, GMA News