Bolts keep Black Knights winless

MANILA, Philippines -- A win remains elusive for the Macau Black Knights. 

This time, it was Meralco’s turn to add to the guest team’s woes, as the Bolts escaped with a 115-110 win over the Black Knights in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup clash Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila. 

Marvin Jones led the charge with 32 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. CJ Cansino seconded with 23 markers and seven boards.

“It's hard like this when you're playing a team that hasn't won, like you're expected to win when you're in the top of the team standings. I thought Macau came out and played pretty well at the start. It's hard when you don't have wins, but they somehow found the confidence in them,” Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo said after the game. 

“They started finally making their threes, but at the end of the day, these guys pulled through. We had a talk with them at the half, kind of got them to realize how big this game is. Can't be prouder of everyone,” he added. 

The game was tight in the fourth quarter as the two teams traded buckets down the stretch. 

A Cansino jumper pushed Meralco ahead, 107-106, with 4:43 remaining. 

A triple by Phoenix Shackelford gave the Black Knights the lead, 109-107, with 3:56 remaining, before Cansino tied things up at 109-all with a deuce. 

Cansino, then, broke the deadlock at the two minute mark with a jumper, 111-109. A split from the line by Ramon Cao made it a one point game, 110-111, but it was all Bolts down the stretch. 

Meralco was holding a slim 113-110 lead with about 45 seconds to go, before Shackelford missed a game-tying triple. 

And with 9.8 seconds left, Jansen Rios hit the dagger layup as he found a straight line to the basket. 

Jason Brickman and Chris Newsome added 13 and 11 points, respectively. 

Shackelford paced Macau with 29 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals off the bench. Jenning Leung chipped in s21 points while Cao had 20. 

Meralco rose to solo second with a 5-1 win-loss record, while Macau dropped to 0-6 as the lone winless team in the conference.