Meralco just refused to lose and survived an 18-point deficit as it upended the grand slam-chasing San Miguel Beer squad, 104-101, to claim playoffs top seeding at the close of the PBA Governors Cup eliminations at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
Allen Durham again flirted with a triple-double performance and broke the back of San Miguel at the finish to propel the Bolts to a first win over the Beermen in two years and into No. 1 finish in the elims with a 9-2 win-loss slate.
The Beermen, meanwhile, dropped all the way to sixth spot as they wound up with a 7-4 record in a tie with the Star Hotshots, the NLEX Road Warriors and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
In applying the quotient tiebreak system, the Hotshots, the Road Warriors, the Beermen and the Elasto Painters finished in that order from fourth to seventh.
Meralco ended on top followed by TNT KaTropa at No. 2 then Barangay Ginebra at No. 3.
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"It's a big win for the Meralco program," said coach Norman Black as his troops nailed a first ever elims top finish for the franchise.
"The playoffs will be more difficult. We'll focus now on preparing against Blackwater that has improved and has really been playing well as of late. We have to be ready," Black also said.
The Bolts will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in taking on the eighth seeded Blackwater Elite in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
The other quarters pairings pit No. 2 TnT KaTropa versus Rain or Shine, No. 3 Ginebra against No. 6 San Miguel and No. 4 Star opposite No. 5 NLEX.
The Bolts, the Texters, the Kings and the Hotshots were the teams that earned the crucial twice-to-beat quarters incentive.
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Durham was again a big key for the Bolts with a rock-solid performance spiked by 35 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
He personally beat the Beermen at the finish on his lethal plays.
He pushed the Bolts ahead to stay at 102-101 in a follow-up on his own miss with time down to 27.1 seconds. Then after field-goal misses by the Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo, Durham made it a three-point lead in making two foul shots with 3.2 seconds left.
Durham kept his composure even after figuring in a verbal tussle with Ross that sparked a wild commotion in the hallway leading to the dugouts at the half.
"They flexed their muscles early but we stayed with it, and we stayed with it," he said after the game.
