MERALCO gave new team Macau a rude welcome in the EASL Season 2 behind a 97-85 win Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Chris Newsome led the Bolts with 18 points and six assists, while import Allen Durham had a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win that evened things out for the home teams in the opener of the Home and Away tournament.
San Miguel earlier fell to Suwon KT Sonicboom of the Korean Basketball League, 87-81.
DJ Kennedy also had a pleasant debut as the other Meralco import with 17 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, and Chris Banchero was the other player to finish in double figures for the Bolts with 14 points.
Naturalized player Ange Kouame, coming off an injury, came through with nine points and nine rebounds for Meralco, which led by as many as 19 points.
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"It's nice to win our first game sa bansa. We played with a lot of pride, although we didn't play our best game," said coach Luigi Trillo after the game.
"At least we got one over here in our home turf."
The Bolts finished with a 1-5 (win-loss) record last season in their first stint in the regional league and didn't win at home.
The Black Bears, one of two new teams this season along with Hong Kong Eastern, had been together for just a couple of weeks but still gave the Bolts a good competition.
Big man Will Artino towered for 23 points and 14 rebounds, frontcourt partner Jeantal Cylla also with 23 and seven boards, while Damian Chongqui, part of the team that finished runner up behind the Zamboanga Valientes in The Asian Tournament Grand Finals, added 21 for the Black Bears.
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The scores
Meralco (97) -- Newsome 18, Durham 17, Kennedy 17, Banchero 14, Kouame 9, Almazan 7, Quinto 7, Hodge 4, Caram 2, Bates 2.
Macau Black Bears (85) -- Cylla 23, Artino 23, Chongqui 21, Leung 10, Deguara 8, Chao 0, Li 0, Zeng 0, Lao 0, Chan 0.
Quarterscores: 24-17; 43-39; 73-64; 97-85.
