Meralco's Andre Emmett tries to squeeze out of the spread-eagle defense of San Miguel Beer's Arwind Santos in Saturday night's PBA Governors Cup action at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. JAY R. GOTERA Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The Meralco Bolts limited San Miguel Beer to a single basket in overtime to hand the luckless Beermen their second straight defeat, 106-95, Saturday night in their PBA Governors' Cup match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Import Andre Emmett made up for missing a potential game-winning shot in regulation time by nailing eight points in OT, including a difficult turn-around jumper move that pushed Meralco's lead to 11 points, 104-93, ensuring the Bolts' first victory after an opening-day loss to GlobalPort. Emmett led Meralco with 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. After a bad shooting night in his team's first game, Gary David regained his firepower on Saturday, scoring 23 points before fouling out in overtime. Rey Guevarra came off the bench to add 11 points while Reynel Hugnatan and Cliff Hodge added 10 points apiece. Defense was the key to Meralco's victory as the Bolts limited the Beermen to 1-of-7 shooting in overtime on top of five turnovers. In what appeared to be a carbon copy of their dismal showing in the Commissioner's Cup, the Beermen suffered another stinging loss after getting upset in their first game by the Kia Carnival. Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo led SMB with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Import Arizona Reid had another forgettable game, finishing with just 13 points on a miserable 4-of-15 shooting from the field. Arwind Santos and Marcio Lassiter added 14 and 13 points, respectively. Purefoods 89, NLEX 85 The defending champion Purefoods Star Hotshots survived an endgame barrage of three-point bombs from the NLEX Road Warriors to open their title retention bid with an 89-85 victory.
Veteran Purefoods import Marqus Blakely lived up to his monicker “Mr. Everything” as he finished with a near triple-double of 29 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists on top of seven steals and five blocks as he dominated both ends of the court. Now on his fifth year in the PBA, the 6'4” Blakely made up for the lackluster performance of top stars James Yap, Peter June Simon and Marc Pingris with his sheer energy. The Road Warriors scored four straight three-pointers in the last 36 seconds. But the Hotshots countered with eight straight free throws capped with a two-handed slam by Blakely to send the Road Warriors reeling to their second straight defeat. Alex Mallari was the only other Hotshot who scored in double digits as he posted 15 points. Mark Barroca added nine points. American import Kwame Alexander led NLEX with 25 points and 26 rebounds. Jonas Villanueva added 14 points, including a long three-pointer from halfcourt to beat the third quarter buzzer. He also had seven assists. Syrian import Michael Madanly finished with just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 from three-point territory. Madanly played with pain on his neck which got injured in his team's first outing. He reinjured his neck in the first half and had to be subbed. Games Sunday: Blackwater Elite vs. Barako Bull Energy and Barangay Ginebra Kings vs. Talk N Text Tropang Texters.
