ANTIPOLO - Meralco doggedly fought on with its back against the wall, making it two in a row with a 94-88 drubbing of frontrunner Magnolia in the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Sports Center here Friday night.
Allen Durham, Baser Amer, Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge all delivered double-digit outputs as starters while Reynel Hugnatan came through with a conference-high 15 points off the bench as the Bolts scored a follow-up on their stirring come-from-behind win over the NLEX Road Warriors Sunday.
"We're not giving up. We're still fighting but we still have a long road to go," said Meralco coach Norman Black after the crucial back-to-back wins that improved their record to 3-6 at ninth place.
"At least, we still have a chance. Hopefully, we can catch up and make it," added Black, hoping they can break into the Magic Eight at the end of the single-round-robin elims.
Entering the homestretch of the elims, the Bolts are within reach of the TNT KaTropa Texters (4-4), the Road Warriors (4-5) and the San Miguel Beermen (3-4).
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Absorbing a first loss in six games, Magnolia, meanwhile, now shares the lead with Barangay Ginebra at 7-2.
"Alam namin lahat ng natitirang games namin eh very important, kaya tinatyaga namin. At least buhay pa rin kami," said Hugnatan, a big key in their last two games where he averaged 13.5 points after norming only 2.9 in their previous matches.
"Everytime naman na pinapasok ako, basta gagawin ko ang trabaho ko," Hugnatan said.
Durham was productive as usual, flirting with a triple-double job with 20 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists against four turnovers.
Amer contributed 16 markers, including crucial free throws at endgame while Newsome and Hodge chipped in 13 and 12, respectively.
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Romeo Travis had his huge numbers with 25 points and 19 rebounds in an elite matchup with fellow former PBA Best Import awardee Durham.
The Hotshots dropped the game in making only a single field-goal basket in the last 65 seconds.(SB)
The scores:
Meralco 94 - Newsome 20, Amer 16, Hugnatan 15, Newsome 13, Hodge 12, Salva 8, Jamito 5, Caram 3, Tolomia 2, Lanete 0, Faundo 0, Ballesteros 0.
Magnolia 88 - Travis 25, Lee 12, Sangalang 12, Jalalon 9, Barroca 8, Reavis 8, Brondial 7, Herndon 3, Simon 2, Dela Rosa 2, Pascual 0, Ramos 0.
Quarters: 24-19, 43-43, 70-66, 94-88.
