Meralco starts title-defense with stirring win over Converge

Sports

THE defending champions Meralco Bolts kicked off their title-retention bid with a thrilling 91-89 come-from-behind win over the Converge FiberXers in the 49th PBA Philippine Cup on Friday night, April 4, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Chris Newsome helped complete the Bolts’ fightback from 20 points down by sinking the marginal basket with 0.1 second left.

Newsome’s game-winning shot was part of a game-closing 8-0 run that wiped out Converge’s six-point lead entering the final two minutes of the highly entertaining contest.

Newsome topscored for Meralco with h 15 points that went with six rebounds, four assists, and one steal. He was backed by Bong Quinto, who tallied 14 poinst on top of six boards, three assists, and a steal.

Raymond Almazan posted 13 points and 12 boards while Norman Black and Toto Jose chipped in 10 points apiece in the balanced Meralco attack.

Converge was led by Justin Arana, who scored 23 points. Alec Stockton, Schonny Winston, and Justine Baltazar contributed 17, 14, and points, respectively, but the FiberXers could not come up with a win despite leading for the large part of the match.

THE SCORES:

MERALCO (91) - Newsome 15, Quinto 14, Almazan 13, , Black 10, Jose 10, Reyson 8, Caram 6, Rios 5, Torres 3, Hodge 3, Cansino 2, Pascual 2, Bates 0.

CONVERGE (89) - Arana 23, Stockton 17, Baltazar 14, Winston 13, Garcia 6, B. Santos 5, Delos Santos 4, Racal 2, Corpuz 2, Caralipio 2, Nermal 1, Ambohot 0, R. Santos 0, Suerte 0.

QUARTERSCORES: 22-34, 42-44, 63-66, 91-89.(CCM)