Playing their fourth game in nine days, the Meralco Bolts nonetheless put up a strong fight against the Magnolia Hotshots. But in the end, they proved no match for the “desperate basketball” Magnolia played.
That’s how Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo described the Hotshots’ play on Friday in their 112-98 victory over the Bolts at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It is their first win of the PBA Governors’ Cup, while it is the Bolts’ second loss against as many wins.
“They also had time to prepare and they deserved it. They seemed like a team playing desperate basketball,” Trillo told reporters after the game. “They beat us on the glass, 17 offensive rebounds. So, you felt their despair, you felt their attention to detail, you felt them playing with a sense of urgency.”
Magnolia dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds compared to Meralco’s 10. The overall rebounding battle was much closer, with the Hotshots holding only a 42-37 advantage. But a decisive 12-4 run after the Bolts came to within 88-86 in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference.
Meralco Had Its Moments
Even with the loss, Trillo felt his team played well enough to win. He might have a point. For all of Magnolia’s superb play, Meralco was right there in the fourth quarter, just down by two, 88-86, with 8:54 left.
“They got a big lead. I think it was 14 points, but we did a good job. We cut the lead down to five at the half and then we had our moments,” Trillo pointed out. “In the fourth quarter, we brought it back to five points and then a couple of miscues here and there and then, you know, they hit big shots.”
Trillo is right. The Bolts turned the ball over thrice in Magnolia’s decisive run to end the game. Zavier Lucero and Rome Dela Rosa sparked that endgame uprising with a 7-2 spurt—a basket and a trey from Lucero and a jumper from Dela Rosa—that put the Hotshots up, 95-88. Meralco never recovered.
In the end, Trillo summed things up succinctly: “We didn’t play too bad. I thought we had chances in the game, but they were the better team in the fourth quarter.”
The Bolts will now enjoy a much-needed break before returning to action on July 31, when they take on Barangay Ginebra San Miguel at the Mall of Asia Arena.
