The Meralco Bolts were staring at a must-win heading into Game 3—and they responded with a flourish. Facing a confident, well-coached TNT Tropang 5G squad looking to go for the kill, the Bolts finally played true to form, swarming all over the Tropa and making just enough plays on offense to hack out a 97-89 win and halve TNT’s PBA Philippine Cup semis lead to 2-1.
Afterwards, Chris Banchero revealed an interesting tidbit in the postgame presser: Meralco management met up with the Bolts in what he described as “a really important meeting.”
“I think everybody knew how big of a game this was for the company. We had a really important meeting. Management came in, and they expected us to perform tonight, and we did,” said Banchero. “Everybody stepped up, especially defensively. We got off to a good start compared to Game 2, and that was extremely important.”
Indeed, Meralco’s defense was electric, holding down TNT to just 89 points on a measly 37.9% from the field—much lower than the 55% the Bolts surrendered in their 109-92 blowout loss in Game 2.
Banchero Gives CJ Cansino Some Love
The Fil-Italian guard, whose 18 markers shared game-high honors with CJ Cansino, also gave his young backcourt mate credit for coming up big in Game 3. A starter for most of the previous games, Cansino came off the bench this time around, and yet he still came in and had his best outing yet in this series so far.
“I’m just extremely proud of CJ,” Banchero said of the rising sophomore. “From starting to then coming off the bench, he did a great job tonight. He didn’t really force anything, and he played great defense.”
Cansino fired 11 of his 18 in the first half to help stake the Bolts to an early double-digit lead. He then scored 7 more in the fourth quarter as he, Banchero, and Chris Newsome wrapped up Game 3.
Now, Banchero, Cansino, and company turn their focus to Game 4 on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
