MANILA – Meralco Bolts wasted an early double-digit lead before holding off the Hong Kong Eastern, 88-83, in the 2024-25 PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Leading by as many as nine points early in the game, the Bolts saw their lead turned to a 71-72 deficit midway through the fourth quarter behind a furious uprising by the HK Eastern.
The Bolts, however, responded with a basket from Akil Mitchell and a three-pointer from Kier John Quinto to take a 76-72 lead before they sealed the victory with late free throws from Chris Newsome.
Mitchell led the way with a double-double of 31 points and 14 rebounds to go with seven steals and five assists as the Bolts snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to a 4-2 win-loss slate.
Quinto chipped in 16 markers, including three three-point conversions, to go with four rebounds and two assists, while Newsome and Aaron Black ended with nine markers apiece for the Bolts.
“This is a good one, we did enough to win, it’s a grind out win, still (there are) things to improve on, I think we missed around 19 free throws,” Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo said in a post-game interview.
“We knew they will comeback (in the second half), they have I think 31 points in the third quarter, but we did enough to hold things in the fourth quarter and get this W,” he added.
Chris McLaughlin finished with a double-double of 28 points and 18 rebounds, Kobey Lam added 16 markers, while Steven Guinchard and Hayden Blankley had 13 and 12, respectively, as the HK Eastern dropped to a 6-3 record./PN
BOX SCORE:
MERALCO 88 – Mitchell 31, Quinto 16, Black 9, Newsome 9, Black 9, Hodge 6, Banchero 6, Caram 4, Torres 3, Bates 2, Cansino 2, Rios 0, Almazan 0, Reyson 0.
EASTERN 83 – McLaughlin 28, Lam 16, Guinchard 13, Blankley 12, Cao 5, Cheung 3, Chan 2, Yang 2, Pok 2, Leung 0, Xu 0.
Quarterscores: 19-15, 39-36, 69-67, 88-83.
