MERALCO primed up for the quarterfinal stage of the PBA Governors' Cup with a 124-82 romp over Terrafirma Saturday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Turning on full power from the get-go, the Bolts stormed to an early 32-12 tear and didn't give the depleted Dyip a chance to replicate their 84-72 reversal over defending champion TNT two nights before.
The winning result, a bounceback to Meralco's 97-105 slipup versus Converge last Wednesday, gave the charges of coach Luigi Trillo a final elims card of 7-3.
The Bolts grabbed the No. 2 seeding from this bracket and set a duel with the third-ranked squad of Group B - either San Miguel Beer or Barangay Ginebra - in the best-of-five quarterfinal series.
The Dyip, whose injury woes worsened with Stanley Pringle, best player of their upset of the top-ranked Tropang Giga, joining aces Christian Standhardinger and Juami Tiongson in sick bay, bowed out of the season-opening conference with 1-9.
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As swashbuckling as this 42-point demolition was, Trillo warned the Bolts against feeling excessively good about it.
"I thought we were also sharp, right? But if you think about it, there's no Standhardinger, no Pringle (for Terrafirma), they've got a lot of injuries on that side too. But we were pretty solid all-around. Whoever came in, contributed and they were sharp," he said.
"But this can be a false sense of security for us kasi Terrafirma is out. You see the game before when we played Converge and there's something on the line. Converge played at a different level because it was like a do-or-die game for them.
"Terrafirma, if you look at it, it's their last game, there's really nothing to play for. So we have to be careful with that, right? But this will help sharpen the saw for us," he added.
Alvin Pasaol, with 21, and CJ Cansino, with 15, led scoring for Meralco, which posted its biggest win in franchise history, as they eased the burden on import Allen Durham (14 markers, seven rebounds in 24 minutes) and local ace Chris Newsome (six points in 18 minutes).
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Antonio Hester shot 18 plus 11 boards in the Dyip's farewell outing in the conference. (OL)
The Scores:
Meralco 124 - Pasaol 21, Cansino 15, Durham 14, Jose 12, Bates 11, Banchero 9, Almazan 8, Hodge 8, Caram 7, Newsome 6, Torres 4, Mendoza 3, Rios 2, Quinto 2, Pascual 2.
Terrafirma 82 - Hester 18, Sangalang 17, Hanapi 12, Hernandez 11, Olivario 7, Carino 5, Grospe 4, Ramos 4, Cahilig 2, Ferrer 2.
Quarterscores: 34-15, 66-37, 91-61, 124-82
