Meralco, Ginebra bounce back from frustrating losses

Sports

THE Meralco Bolts and the Barangay Ginebra Kings rebounded from disappointing losses the last time out by tripping separate opponents in the 50th PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night, arch 29, at the Araneta Coliseum.

Meralco recovered from a humiliating 102-109 loss to the import-less Rain or Shine Elasto Painters by drubbing the Titan Ultra Giant Risers, 118-105, while Ginebra bounced back from a sorry 113-118 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors by outlasting the Converge FiberXers, 99-93.

Import Marvin Jones collected 24 points and 14 rebounds while CJ Cansino tallied 26 points in the win that saw Meralco led by as many as 28 points in the third quarter.

The Giant Risers made some runs in the end game but the Bolts had an answer en route to recording their third win in four games.

Titan suffered its third loss in four matches despite getting a career-high 29 points from rookie Bryan Sajonia.

Ginebra, on the other hand, improved to 3-1 (win-loss) following the 30-point performances of import Justin Brownlee and RJ Abarrientos.

Coming off a 46-point explosion in the loss to NLEX, Brownlee scattered 33 points, 21 coming in the pivotal second half that enabled the Kings to overcome a 42-49 halftime deficit.

Abarrientos logged 32 markers as Ginebra dealt Converge a fourth straight loss for a dismal 1-4 record.

Justine Baltazar topped Converge with 20 points, Mikey Williams added 16 and Mike Garcia had 15.

THE SCORES:

FIRST GAME

MERALCO (118) – Cansino 26, Jones 24, Quinto 15, Brickman 13, Mocon 11, Banchero 9, Newsome 8, Black 6, Maliksi 3, Hodge 2, Almazan 1, Magbuhos 0.

TITAN (105) – Sajonia 29, Gilmore 25, Munzon 9, Balanza 9, Yu 8, Cuntapay 8, Flores 7, Dionisio 4, Ular 4, Javillonar 2, Caralipio 0, Omega 0, Pessumal 0, Melecio 0.QUARTERSCORES: 26-16; 61-42; 89-65; 118-105.

SECOND GAME

GINEBRA (99) - Brownlee 33, Abarrientos 32, Rosario 10, Holt 9, Pinto 7, Thompson 6, Go 2, Cu 0, Torres 0, Estil 0, Gray 0.

CONVERGE (93) - Baltazar 20, Williams 16, Garcia 15, Kelley 13, Stockton 9, Policarpio 9, Concepcion 8, Muyang 3, Reyson 0.QUARTERSCORES: 28-30, 42-49, 81-74, 99-93.(CCM)