MANILA, Philippines -- The Meralco Bolts are heading into the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals after blasting the NLEX Road Warriors, 100-81, Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.
The Bolts are able to set a date with Barangay Ginebra in the next round of the playoffs.
Chris Banchero waxed hot, unleashing a season-high 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Meralco. He had a +- of +27.
The Road Warriors were able to go toe-to-toe through the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, as they trailed by five, 75-80, with a layup by Dominick Fajardo.
In the next three minutes, the Bolts uncorked a 10-0 run capped by Bong Quinto’s jumper to go up, 90-75.
A Fajardo layup stopped the bleeding, 77-90, but a backbreaking 10-1 run punctuated by a triple by Quinto broke the game wide open and ended the Road Warriors’ season.
The Road Warriors trailed by just three, 49-52, heading into the second half.
However, Meralco started to pull away and led by 13 in the third quarter, before NLEX cut the lead to six going into the final canto.
The Road Warriors shot just 36% from the field compared to the Bolts’ 49% shooting.
Allein Maliksi and Cliff Hodge chipped in 14 points apiece. Quinto had 13, while Chris Newsome and Raymond Almazan powered in 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
Robert Bolick led NLEX with 18 points, but made just 6-of-18 field goal attempts. Fajardo added 15 markers and six boards.