Meralco staves off elimination with win over Rain or Shine

James Yap was the lone bright spot for Rain or Shine against Meralco. KC Cruz

The Meralco Bolts held the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to its lowest output in over seven conferences, earning an 82-72 victory on Friday at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

"We're keeping our hopes up but we still need to win. We don't have control of our destiny at this point," said Meralco coach Norman Black. "More importantly, I'm happy that we won. It' just nice to see the players put up a lot of effort."

The Bolts jumped to a 35-20 leading the first period, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge led Meralco with a combined 36 points, with Hodge grabbing 16 rebounds. Newsome, meanwhile, tallied six assists with four boards. 

Former Elasto Painter Jonathan Uyloan also had a good game against his former squad, hitting 14 points with six boards and five assists. Rabeh Al-Hussaini, meanwhile, paced the starters with 10 markers and five boards.

With the win, Meralco improved to 3-7 breaking the tie for last place with sister team NLEX.

James Yap paced Rain or Shine with 17 points, but the rest of the squad struggled from the field. Jewel Ponferada was the only other Elasto Painter in double figures with 11, while Jeff Chan and Jericho Cruz were limited to nine points each off a combined 6 of 25 clip from the field. —JST, GMA News