Charged-up Bolts edge Energy Boosters, 73-70

Meralco stretched its winning run to four in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum, edging Barako Bull, 73-70. The Bolts thus avenged their defeat to the Energy Boosters in the first round, 68-74. The rookie franchise held Barako scoreless in the final four minutes to secure the win and move up to solo fourth in the standings with a 6-5 card. Mark Cardona paced the Bolts with 21 points but committed seven turnovers. Gabby Espinas added 16 markers on 7-of-12 field goal shooting, and Asi Taulava marked his return to the team after an Asian Games stint by contributing 10 points on a 4-of-5 clip on the floor. Taulava’s point-blank shot inside two minutes put the Bolts in front for good, 70-69. Barako’s first-round win over Meralco was one of only two victories for the Energy Boosters, who tumbled to their 10th loss in 12 games, putting them in danger of missing the playoffs for the fifth straight conference. “We expected something like that," said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio after engaging the Energy Boosters in another close game. “We knew Barako will not just sit down and die. But during those anxious moments when we were not sure of winning, we stuck to our strength, which is defense." The Bolts’ daunting defense did limit the Energy Boosters to 0-of-8 shooting in the last five minutes. A split from the foul line by Espinas gave Meralco a 72-70 lead, and after Reed Juntilla misfired at the other end, the Energy Boosters fouled Cardona to stop the clock. But the shooting guard failed to clinch the win outright as he missed the tail-end of his charities to make it just a three-point lead and leave Barako Bull with 7.1 seconds to come up with a game-tying three-pointer. Paolo Hubalde failed to get himself out of trouble at mid-court after being harassed by a phalanx of Meralco defenders, but the Energy Boosters still got one final possession when the Bolts touched the ball last with four-tenths of a second to go. Although Sunday Salvacion’s desperation attempt from beyond the arc had a good line, the ball only hit the side of the rim and bounced way off as the final buzzer sounded. Hubalde and Salvacion scored 13 points each for Barako, while Mark Isip added 10 as the trio made up for Juntilla’s woeful shooting. Juntilla, a streak-shooting guard, was held to just two points on a 1-of-9 performance, just days after scoring a personal conference-high of 28 points in Barako’s game against Talk 'N Text. – JVP, GMANews.TV