TERRAFIRMA pulled off a 96-88 shocker over Meralco Saturday to crash the win-column right on its second game in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Juami Tiongson had 30 points and Jordan Williams 29 points and eight rebounds, but it was less-heralded Eric Camson who hit the game's biggest shot and pointed the Dyip the bounce-back win following a 115-130 loss to Converge last Thursday.
Camson followed his three-point miss to grab the rebound and sink a lay-up, snapping Terrafirma out of a five-minute silence and giving it a 92-84 lead going to the last 23.4 seconds of the game.
That switched all the pressure on the Bolts who got baskets from Chris Newsome and KJ McDaniels, but those were negated by Williams and Tiongson icing the game through charities.
The way his team narrowly avoided a second half meltdown as in the Converge game and finally snapped out of a seven-game losing streak to Meralco in the conference's past editions obviously pleased Terrafirma coach Johnedel Cardel.
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"Last game we had a good start, nu'ng first half. Third quarter nag-relax kami, then nagkanya-kanya... bumaba laro namin," noted Cardel.
"This time sabi ko, 'We have a good start, then second, third quarter talagang pinush ko sila, eh. The attitude was to play better and get the win."
Meralco only has itself to blame for being foiled in notching a third win in as many games as it failed to solve Terrafirma's pesky defense that had the Bolts making only 33 of 41 field goal tries while committing 20 turnovers.
Still, coach Norman Black's charges managed to trim what was once a 69-86 deficit to just 84-90.
Meralco actually wound up with a whopping 65-43 advantage off the boards but that went for naught when diminutive JP Calvo managed to snare an offensive rebound off a Tiongson miss.
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Calvo muffed his follow-up of a floater, but Camson got the offensive rebound and called a timeout which resulted in his own heroics that capped a 13-point, 10-rebound night.
McDaniels finished with 27 points and 19 rebounds with Newsome, Black and Maliksi the only other double-digit scorers for the Bolts with at least 11 points each. (NC)
The Scores:
Terrafirma 96 - Tiongson 30, Williams 29, Camson 13, Cabagnot 8, Ferrer 5, Calvo 4, Alolino 3, Cahilig 2, Gabayni 2, Ramos 0, Gomez de Liano 0, Mina 0.
Meralco 88 - McDaniels 29, Newsome 13, Black 12, Maliksi 11, Quinto 9, Hodge 6, Banchero 6, Jose 2, Almazan 0.
Quarters: 24-26, 52-50, 72-65, 96-88
