The PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals will need one more play date after the Meralco Bolts and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters won their respective encounters with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Converge FiberXers. Here’s a recap of what went down:
Meralco Outlasts Ginebra, Gets Shot at Revenge
Chris Newsome and Jansen Rios hit big shots in the fourth to help the Meralco Bolts outlast Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 108-104, to break their five-game losing streak against their rivals.
Newsome finished with 24 big points for the Bolts, while Rios had another fantastic outing off the bench with 15—including two triple in the fourth. Akil Mitchell bucked early foul trouble to put up 13 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 dimes as he served as the fulcrum of Meralco’s offense.
Meralco was in control for much of the second half, with Newsome, Mitchell, Bong Quinto, and Cliff Hodge conniving in the last 24 minutes. Ginebra’s last-ditch effort to send the game to OT fizzled out as RJ Abarrientos’s four-pointer was off the mark.
Justin Brownlee carried the fight for Ginebra with a game-high 36 points but was just 14-for-30 from the field. Scottie Thompson was solid once again, putting up 21 points and 9 rebounds.
The Scores:
Meralco (108) – Newsome 24, Hodge 17, Rios 15, Quinto 14, Mitchell 13, Banchero 13, Black 8, Almazan 2, Cansino 2, Bates 0, Pascual 0, Caram 0
Ginebra (103) – Brownlee 36, Thompson 21, Abarrientos 12, J. Aguilar 10, Rosario 9, Malonzo 9, Ahanmisi 2
Rain or Shine Roars Past Converge Behind Big Game from Adrian Nocum
Adrian Nocum catching fire and Deon Thompson staying clear of foul trouble were all the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters needed to roar past the Converge FiberXers, 114-104, to force a semis decider.
Nocum fired 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as he completely took over the game to help Rain or Shine turn a slim 70-68 advantage to a 97-87 lead with time down to five minutes. Thompson himself scored 28 points on top of 18 rebounds, and 7 assists. as he stayed out of foul trouble this time and played up until the last seconds of the fourth.
Nocum and Thompson’s big games put for naught Jordan Heading’s impressive 29 point-outing—including 22 in the first half alone. Alec Stockton added 20 markers, while Cheick Diallo and Justin Arana each had 17 for the FiberXers, who looked poised to wrap up the series after Heading’s strong start, only to falter in the fourth in the face of the Elasto Painters’ searing run.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine (114) – Thompson 28, Nocum 28, Clarito 19, Asistio 10, Caracut 7, Santillan 7, Tiongson 5, Datu 5, Malonzo 5, Belga 0
Converge (104) – Heading 29, Stockton 20, Diallo 17, Arana 17, Winston 10, Santos 5, Baltazar 3, Nieto 3, Delos Santos 0, Garcia 0, Racal 0, Andrade 0
PBA Commissioner’s Cup: The Quarterfinals Continue
The PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals will be decided on Sunday at the Ynares Center. Rain or Shine will look to pull off the stunner against Converge in the first game, while Meralco will try to get one over its rivals Ginebra in the second game.
