MANILA: No one could blame Meralco coach Norman Black for the first words that came out of his mouth after stepping into the pressroom on Wednesday night.
“Oh, boy,” Black muttered to no one in particular after his Bolts survived the loss of a 26-point lead to gut out a 98-95 victory over a depleted Rain or Shine side to stay undefeated and in the solo lead of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Meralco dropped 42 points in the second period and built a 57-31 lead, looking like it had settled the outcome there, especially when Rain or Shine import Wayne Chism left the game early in the third period because of a suspected left hamstring tear.
But things got harder for the Bolts, as the Elasto Painters fought with all they had and made it 76-all going into the payoff frame.
“You’re up by 26, they (Painters) lose their import and it becomes a tough game,” Black said while rubbing the top of his head. “But a win is a win and I will take it anytime. Coming from a 1-10 conference (in the Philippine Cup), I’ll take it.”
Chism wasn’t exactly having a good night, finishing with just three points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
Arinze Onuaku, despite being grossly out of shape, scored 31 points and had 27 boards for the Bolts and Black said that they would have to get their burly import in shape soonest.
“My import played well today, that was a dominating performance,” Black said. “But we have to get him in better shape. We need to get him in PBA shape, and that means playing 40 minutes a night.
“He needs to be more explosive,” Black went on. “It’s clear to me, though, that he’s exactly what we need as an import.”
It was the third straight win for the Bolts, who moved within two more victories of duplicating a franchise-best 5-0 start chalked up in this same tournament with Josh Davis as an import last season.
Rookie Maverick Ahanmisi fired 19 points with JR Quinahan and Gabe Norwood shooting 11 and 10 of their totals, respectively, in the third period to be responsible for the big Rain or Shine comeback.
Still, the Painters dropped to 1-1.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Petroleum, the newest kid on the PBA block, debuted in style earlier after taking down NLEX, 118-106, in what could be considered as the first upset of the very young tournament.
Retaining the nucleus of the Barako Bull franchise it bought, Phoenix got a huge offensive output from the comebacking RR Garcia, who tossed in 19 of his night-high 33 points in the third quarter where the Fuel Masters grabbed control.
Garcia, who missed the latter part of the Philippine Cup for the Energy because of a shoulder injury, was on fire in the second half, drilling in a total of 27 in the last two quarters to fuel the Phoenix drive.
Kenny Adeleke scored 18 points and had 20 rebounds in his first game on Philippine soil, and his dominating presence inside the paint helped the Fuel Masters manhandle the Road Warriors off the boards, 58-42.
Willie Wilson had 12 rebounds and Rodney Brondial came off the bench to pluck down nine boards while combining for 14 points.
The loss was the first in two games for the Road Warriors, who played a notch lower than the way they did in upending crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra in overtime on Sunday.
Al Thornton, the prolific NLEX import, was held down to 27 points by the swarming Phoenix defense. Thornton scored 50 points in that win over the Gin Kings, which tied his PBA career-high.
In a related development, commissioner Chito Narvasa also on Wednesday reduced Ivan Johnson’s lifetime ban and P250,000 fine to a season-long suspension and a P150,000 penalty.
Johnson appeared before the commissioner on Tuesday afternoon together with his two kids and wife and pleaded for a reduction of the original penalty.
Narvasa threw the book at the Tropang TNT import Saturday last week after Johnson cursed him while going back to the dugout for getting ejected because of a second technical foul.
Their meeting lasted for close to two hours and according to league sources, was very pleasant when it ended with Narvasa even seen playing around with Johnson’s kids.
TNT, however, has already made up its mind even before Johnson appeared before Narvasa, as the team is awaiting the arrival of a yet-to-be-named new import in time for the Texters’ clash with GlobalPort on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
