MERALCO survived a late power outage before escaping past TNT, 19-18, to capture top honors in Leg 3 of the PBA 3x3 Season 3 Third Conference Tuesday at Ayala Malls Fairview Terraces.
The Bolts squandered a 19-13 margin but held on in the face of the Triple Giga's furious rally en route to becoming the first two-leg winner of the conference following their Leg 1 conquest.
Jeff Manday torched TNT with 12 points spiked by a 4-of-6 shooting from deep while Alfred Batino and Joseph Sedurifa chipped in three each and JJ Manlangit shot one as Meralco returned to the top after settling for fifth in Leg 2.
"It was a total team effort," said Bolts coach Patrick Fran, whose crew banked P100,000 and stretched the franchise's overall collection to six leg wins since the league inaugurals in 2021.
Fran's charges got a big scare when the Triple Giga pulled to within one at 19-18 and got one last chance to steal it on Chester Saldua's rebound off Batino's missed layup with three seconds left.
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Gryann Mendoza shook off Manday's defense and fired the potential championship winner that went in. However, he failed to launch it before the game clock reached zero, allowing the Bolts to get away with the triumph.
Saldua (eight points, six rebounds), Mendoza (five), Exciminiano (five) and Matt Salem (scoreless) banked P50,000 after coming tantalizingly close to winning one for TNT without ace gunner Almond Vosotros (out on illness).
Still, the Triple Giga achieved their best finish of the conference after starting with a pair of seventh place finishes.
On their way to this triumph, the Bolts defeated NorthPort in the quarterfinals, 11-8, and edged Leg 2 winner MCFASolver in the semis, 21-19. The Triple Giga dumped Terrafirma, 22-8, before hammering a 21-17 come-from-behind semis win over San Miguel Beer.
MCFASolver's Louie Vigil, Brandon Ramirez, TH Tumalip and Yutien Andrada settled for third this time. The Tech Centrale defeated the Beermen, 15-12, for their podium finish and P30,000. (OL)
