The Meralco Bolts needed extra time to eke out a pulsating 105-102 victory over the Magnolia Hotshots on Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. With the win, the Bolts booked a seat in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals—their second straight in Season 50—and eliminated the gritty Hotshots.
What Happened?
The whole game played out as an elimination game between two evenly matched teams would: tight, with each team throwing haymakers at every turn. Meralco moved in front first but could only build a four-point lead in the opening frame before Magnolia nudged ahead, 22-19, to end the first. Back-to-back triples past the four-minute mark in the second quarter gave the Hotshots what would be the biggest lead of the game, 45-36, before the Bolts ended the half on an 8-2 mini-run to cut the lead to 47-44 going into intermission.
The third quarter played out similar to the first, with neither team giving an inch. Magnolia, though, did just enough to keep a 72-70 lead going into the final frame even as the Bolts began to find a rhythm. Meralco then zoomed ahead with a 7-0 burst to take its biggest lead, 82-76. The Bolts were still ahead, 85-81, when they caught a huge break after Clint Chapman fouled out at the 4:21 mark. But rather than fold, the Hotshots fought back behind Jerom Lastimosa, who rifled in Magnolia’s last nine points in regulation—a trey, a three-point play, another trey, and a lay-in that sent the game to OT.
Lastimosa continued to be a one-man wrecking crew for the Hotshots in extra time, but Meralco countered with Bong Quinto, who scored the Bolts’ final bucket in regulation and their first two buckets in OT. Quinto also hit a jumper that turned out to be the go-ahead basket as it broke a 100-all deadlock with 37 ticks left.
Who Stood Out?
The Bolts did it by committee, with different players taking turns carrying the load. But the most consistent was import Marvin Jones, who bounced back from a couple of subpar games to tally 28 points, including several important buckets in the second half, on top of 9 rebounds. Chris Newsome and CJ Cansino had their turns, too, with Newsome firing 18 and Cansino contributing 16. Finally, Quinto’s heroics down the stretch—he scored all of his 11 in the final six minutes of the game—sealed the deal for Meralco.
Magnolia, on the other hand, leaned on Lastimosa, who scored 21 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. It also got a vintage performance from Mark Barroca, who earlier in the game sustained a black eye after getting kneed in the face by a driving Cliff Hodge. Barroca finished with 22 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
3 Keys to the Game
- Composure. In a game so tight, the intangibles mattered most. The Bolts particularly showed composure down the stretch, making enough big plays and holding off the Lastimosa takeover.
- Bong Quinto. Lastimosa could’ve won it outright for Magnolia in regulation after he hit a booming triple that gave the Hotshots a 90-89 lead with less than a minute left. But Quinto answered back with a trey of his own—his first basket up to that point—to give Meralco back the lead. He then scored 8 more in OT, including that go-ahead basket.
- Turnovers. Turnovers plagued Magnolia all conference long, and they probably cost them a semis seat as well. To be fair, the Hotshots’ 15 turnovers were just two more than Meralco’s 13, but one of them—a Lastimosa passing error—came at the end of OT. Meralco also turned those turnovers into 19 points, while Magnolia only scored 11 turnover points.
Next Up for the PBA
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 | Ynares Center Antipolo
TNT Tropang 5G vs. Meralco Bolts (5:15 p.m.)
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (7:30 p.m.)
