Lights on for Meralco

MANILA, Philippines — Power restored.

Under threat of falling to a 0-3 hole, Meralco cranked it up against Blackwater, 105-96, to break through in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts seized control with a 32-15 salvo in the second quarter then quelled every uprising the Bossing mounted to finally chalk up one after fumbling losses to Titan Ultra (96-100) and Rain or Shine (95-96 in overtime) to start the season.

“For us it’s keeping the big picture in mind at all times,” said Meralco star Chris Newsome, who dished out his best game to date with 22 points, on a 6-of-9 shooting.

“It’s always tough whenever you lose heartbreakers like that, close games like that. But it’s still early on in the season. Something that we talked about is you never know what can happen. In our championship run, we had three games left and one loss would have put us out of the playoffs. But everyone, especially the veterans stepped up and we got through,” he added.

Cliff Hodge (14-8) Allein Maliksi (13), Brandon Bates (13-7), Raymond Almazan (12-8) and Aaron Black (11 spiked by a perfect 2-of-2 from the three) joined Newsome in helping Meralco go over the hump.

The win not only came like a breath of fresh air but also a momentum-builder as the Bolts go up against Barangay Ginebra (tomorrow) and Magnolia (Sunday) back-to-back after this.

Sedrick Barefield, making his season debut after sitting out their 107-87 romp over Terrafirma, sizzled with 34 highlighted by seven triples to pace Blackwater.

But the Bossing didn’t get the expected production from Christian David and No. 3 rookie pick Dalph Panopio, who were held to seven and two, respectively.

“We did a decent (defensive) job on David and Panopio but we couldn’t stop Barefield,” said coach Luigi Trillo.

The Bolts led by as many as 24 but the Bossing came to within four before Newsome and Co. hit the big buckets that extinguished the threat.