Bolts lock up Aces in fight-marred victory

MANILA, Philippines -- Gary David and Jared Dillinger continued to do well as backcourt partners in the absence of the injury-hit Mike Cortez, and Meralco overcame Alaska Milk, 74-65, in a highly emotional duel to improve to joint fifth place in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

David fired away 24 points including 17 in the final half while Dillinger, a slasher converted to point guard on the sidelining of Cortez and Anjo Caram, came through with 10 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals, leading the Bolts past the Aces in a fight-marred contest.

Dillinger and Calvin Abueva were called a double-technical foul early in the fourth quarter after an incident ending up with the Meralco player being restricted by the referees as he was choking the Alaska sophomore forward.

Dillinger attacked Abueva after the former was sent crashing down the baseline railing with a bloodied nose by the Alaska bruiser.

In the heat of the moment, Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio and Alaska counterpart Luigi Trillo had their verbal tussle.

“We’re both gentlemen and both adult. We’re not good example today. But we shook hands after the game,” said Gregorio.

The Bolts dominated the Aces almost throughout, especially after the ugly incident, and went on to nail a follow-up to their 92-88 win over the Air21 Express Saturday, catching up with the Barako Bull Energy Cola at fifth place at 5-7.

“Jared bloodied and just wiping it out to continue to play was an incredible signal for us,” said Gregorio.

“We got our head above water with this win but we still have two games left,” Gregorio also said.

The Aces struggled with a woeful 33.3-percent shooting on the face of Meralco’s lockdown defense and went down ninth place at 4-8.

“We’re happy with this win with the way we defended,” said Gregorio.

The Meralco mentor said they took a close look at Sonny Thoss, Cyrus Baguio and Dondon Hontiveros, the Aces that terribly hurt the Bolts in their 82-91 loss to Alaska in their previous match.

“I told the guys the three should not score in the high 60s. What happened was we limited them (the whole Alaska team) to 65. That’s tenacity on defense,” said Gregorio.

Shooting well on a halfcourt game, the Bolts took the opening quarter at 24-17 and led by 12 at 38-26 before settling for a 40-32 halftime cushion.

Dillinger and Sunday Salvacion were at the forefront of Alaska’s first-half domination, the former piling up 10 points, four rebounds and four assist and the latter firing away two three-pointers and a total of eight markers.

The Aces, however, unleashed an eight-to-nothing run to start the third quarter and pulled even after a long chase at 40-all.

The Bolts quickly regained control though on the efforts of Cliff Hodge, John Wilson and David.