The 6-foot-2 swingman scored seven of the B-Boys’ final eight points – all of them coming in a string – and led Meralco to a 95-93 decision of Air21 for the franchise’s first winning streak in the PBA and back into solid contention in the Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Out in Meralco’s last two games because of a knee injury, Cardona came back to score 23 markers and rescue the B-Boys from what would have been a big hole in the endgame had he not knocked down those crucial points.
“Mac-Mac (Cardona) is back,” Gregorio said, as if reporters did not notice the damage that his guard inflicted on the Express. “He has the ability to close out games in the right way and he did it again tonight.” Meralco stayed under .500 despite the win, but more importantly, it put the squad in the middle of the pack and out of immediate danger heading into its final five games in the eliminations.
“Every game is like a do-or-die game for us,” Gregorio explained. “One loss and you’ll be relegated to the cellar with five games left. That’s why we treat all of our games as very important.” Hans Thiele, the undrafted rookie Meralco worked so hard for to acquire from Barako Bull, scattered 16 points and was again a prime cog why the B-Boys won.
And that hasn’t escaped the attention of Gregorio, who had several picks in the Draft but did not give the former University of the East ace Thiele a second look in the rookie proceedings.
Meralco won without Asi Taulava, its 6-foot-9 center currently on loan to the Smart-Gilas team in the Asian Games being held in Guangzhou, China.
“Winning games without key men speaks volumes of the character we want to build in this team,” Gregorio said. “Tonight, we showed great resilience.” The Express, who took a third straight loss in a 3-6 card that left them tied with Powerade for ninth spot, had a four-point lead entering the final 2:03 when rookie center Rabeh Al-Hussaini split his free throws off Cesar Gamalinda.
And, from there, it looked like the Express had command of the contest until Cardona finished off a fastbreak with a teardrop shot and hit a leisurely-taken three-pointer after Al-Hussaini muffed a short jumper to give the B-Boys a 92-91 lead with 1:04 left.
Cardona wasn’t finished.
The former La Salle ace in the UAAP, who started his PBA career with Meralco’s sister squad, Talk ‘N Text, then hit a difficult fallaway jumper despite great pressure defense from Ronnie Matias to make it 94-91 and left just 23.2 seconds for the Express to tie the game.
Ronjay Buenafe then missed a triple for Air21 and the ball went out of bounds, but Gabby Espinas executed a poor inbounds pass to Cardona, which Buenafe intercepted and converted into two points with a wide-open layup, 94-93, 15.7 to go.
Nonoy Baclao, the first overall pick, then sent Thiele to the stripe with a duty foul and stopped the clock with 14.3 to go, giving the Express the chance to tie or even win the game outright in their offensive set, But the stingy Meralco defense broke up Air21’s final play and forced burly center JR Quinahan to take a three-pointer with still three seconds left on the clock. Quinahan missed the mark badly and doomed the Express.
In the nightcap, meanwhile,, Barangay Ginebra rolled to its fifth straight victory with a 79-68 decision of Alaska, the reigning Fiesta Conference champion.
The Gin Kings got 16 points from former two-time MVP and ex-Alaska Ace Willie Miller, and 14 points from Mark Caguioa as they claimed a piece of second place with the idle Tropang Texters.
Joe Devance led the Aces with 17 points and 17 rebounds and LA Tenorio had 12 points and nine assists.