MANILA – Meralco made sure San Miguel will not crawl back from a huge deficit as it finally finished the job with a 100-85 win in the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Friday.
Armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, the Bolts could have afforded a Beermen rally and still have another chance to finish them off.
Instead, Meralco showed that it has learned its lessons from a major collapse to San Miguel on March 5 which nearly cost them the quarterfinal bonus after yielding a 26-point lead and the game, 110-115.
The Bolts broke a 26-all tie after the first quarter by holding the Beermen to just 14 points in the second quarter and dropping 31 in the third for a 79-61 lead.
SMB tried to rally behind Shabazz Muhammad, the catalyst of the team's huge comeback from 28 points down, as the Beermen cut the lead to just 12, 92-80, with four and a half minutes left.
But an 8-2 run sealed the blowout win for the Bolts, who led by as much as 21 points.
Tony Bishop fired 32 points, hauled down 16 rebounds, and dished off four assists to tow Meralco to a best-of-five semifinal clash with Magnolia starting Wednesday.
The Hotshots advanced after blasting the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 127-88, in the other quarterfinal game.
Paul Lee sizzled early to lead the blowout win that saw Magnolia breach the 100-point mark as early as the third quarter.
He finished with 25 points -- 20 in the first half -- and went 5-of-7 from three-point range, on top of six rebounds and two assists.
Mark Barroca added 18 points, three rebounds, seven assists, and four steals.
Du'Vaughn Maxwell produced 32 points, nine rebounds, and six assists for the Fuel Masters.
The scores:
First Game
MERALCO 100 – Bishop 32, Newsome 22, Banchero 9, Hugnatan 9, Almazan 8, Maliksi 6, Quinto 4, Black 4, Hodge 4, Baclao 2, Jose 0, Caram 0.
SAN MIGUEL 85 – Muhammad 24, Romeo 17, Fajardo 12, Perez 12, Ross 6, Lassiter 5, Brondial 5, Manuel 4, Tautuaa 0, Cruz 0.
Quarters: 26-26, 48-40, 71-69, 100-85
Second Game
MAGNOLIA 127 – Lee 25, Barroca 18, Harris 15, Jalalon 15, Abueva 12, Sangalang 11, Wong 11, Dela Rosa 10, Dionisio 5, Ahanmisi 3, Reavis 2, Corpuz 0, Brill 0, Escoto 0.
PHOENIX 88 – Maxwell 32, Perkins 11, Garcia 10, Wright 8, Jazul 7, Melecio 7, Robles 6, Pascual 4, Demusis 3, Porter 0, Manganti 0, Rios 0, Camacho 0.
Quarters: 34-20, 66-46, 102-67, 127-88 (PNA)
