Meralco and Talk ’N Text made it that way for the Energy Booster and the Tigers in the end.

The B-Boys and the powerhouse Tropang Texters both went through the proverbial eye  of the needle before downing the Energy Boosters and the Tigers, respectively, and practically eliminating both of them from further PBA Philippine Cup contention Wednesday night.

Meralco avenged its franchise’s first PBA loss by downing the Boosters, 73-70, after getting 21 points from Mac Cardona and 16 markers from Gabby Espinas as Barako Bull lost for the seventh straight game and all but bowed out with a 2-10 card.

The B-Boys rose to 6-5 with the win, their fourth straight that upped their franchise mark, and more importantly, they stayed in the upper half of the standings and wouldn’t be at a disadvantage if the first round of the playoffs, the quarterfinals, would start today.

“We expected something like that (a close game),” Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio said. “We knew that Barako Bull would not just sit there and die. They were fighting for their lives and we knew that they would come out hard.” For a while, it looked like the Boosters would be earning a new lease on life, controlling the game up until the stretch when they held the lead going into the final minute.

But Asi Taulava, back with the B-Boys after serving national cause in the Guangzhou Asian Games, hit a point blank shot and Espinas and Cardona each had a split inside the final 16.7 seconds that sealed the deal for the B-Boys.

Espina’s charity gave the B-Boys a 72-70 lead and the Boosters had a chance to equalize and put pressure on Meralco only for Reed Juntilla to flub what looked like a very makeable medium range jumper with over seven seconds left.

Cardona was then sent to the stripe with a duty foul and the Meralco gunslinger missed the second, as Barako Bull earned yet another golden opportunity to draw level.

But Paolo Hubalde made a poor play by throwing a long pass to Ken Bono that was deflected by Cardona out of bounds, making the clock run and leaving the Boosters just four-tenths of a second to launch a triple.

Juntilla finished with just two points after dropping 28 in another narrow loss to the Texters over the weekend.

Meralco going through the wringer against the Boosters was not surprising, considering that Barako Bull prevailed the last time up, 74-68, for one of its two wins in the eliminations.

What was surprising was the second game, where Powerade, without Dennis Espino and the loser of its last five games, led by as many as 15 points over the Texters before being overcome in the end, 103-96.

Talk ‘N Text needed all the firepower it could muster and exploit the huge hole left by the center-less Tigers in the endgame to prevail and rise to 8-3, tied with Barangay Ginebra for second place.

Ali Peek scored 21 points, including the go-ahead short stab with 1:26 left for 96-94 before the Texters hit five-of-six free throws in the last 18.5 seconds to seal the win and put the Tigers on cliff’s edge with a 3-9 card.

Jimmy Alapag churned out a second straight double-double for the Texters with 14 points and 10 assists, his last feed coming in the final 55.5-second mark to Ryan Reyes for a 98-94 cushion.

Talk ‘N Text and Ginebra are expected to remain tied for the remainder of the elimination round, or until they clash on Dec. 10.

San Miguel, at 10-2, already clinched the first twice-to-beat slot in the quarterfinals and the Texters would also be playing another dangerous squad in Rain or Shine on Saturday in Digos in Davao before clashing with the Gin Kings.