At the end of the Bolts’ game against the former San Miguel Beer team, Petron Blaze, coach Ryan Gregorio didn’t think twice who the hero was.
“Mark Isip played beyond expectations,” Gregorio said. “He bailed us out so many times when Petron tried to launch its comeback.”  Meralco’s under-rated reserve scattered his highest output since the Philippine Cup, scoring 28 points including 10 in the final period and the Bolts hardly missed the absence of Mark Cardona and three other role players in a tough 105-100 victory Sunday night at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Isip was at his best when the Boosters came charging back from a 21-point, 88-67, deficit to come to within 102-98. He drew a foul from Jay Washington with 29.9 seconds to go, set aside the pressure that came with the moment, and sank the charities that gave Meralco a safer cushion.
Petron then sued for time, but never got anything solid from it. Sunday Salvacion inexplicably launched a fade-away three-point shot that barely sailed halfway to its target, and the Bolts romped off with their first victory to tie Rain or Shine and crowd darling Ginebra San Miguel for the early lead in this season-ending tournament spiced with a handicapping system.
The Elasto Painters won the tournament’s first game Saturday, banking on import Arizona Reid’s 36-point, 17-rebound performance to beat Derby Ace, 95-82.
Ginebra, too, was fortunate enough to have netted a quality import in Curtis Stinson. Stinson, only 6-foot-2, played huge in submitting a near triple-double effort of 15 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and two steals as the Kings beat the Gary David-less Powerade later in the night, 92-80.
Ginebra was without Rudy Hatfield, who will miss the entire conference for personal commitments back in the US, and big man Enrico Villanueva (knee). Yet the Kings even outrebounded the Tigers, 53-48, and set the tone early en route to the victory.
Stinson happened to be the regular tournament MVP in the recent NBA Developmental League and guided the Iowa Energy to the championship.
And it showed what he can do.
“His (Stinson) performance is OK,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “He competes. He involves his teammates. He posts up, something that we need now because wala naman kaming malaki to attract the defense. He’s doing the job asked from him.”  David didn’t suit up for the Tigers. The leading scorer among the locals (22.3 points per game) for the season will miss two more games after fracturing his left hand, and it more or less gave Ginebra an opening to shift into attack mode all the way.
Import Chris Porter, who played with the Kings before, led the Tigers with 38 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Powerade, though, only had Rob Reyes producing in twin digits with 10.
Isip’s unforeseen brilliance came at a time when Meralco needed someone to step up. Cardona will be out for six-to-eight weeks because of a calf strain he suffered during a tune-up game against Alaska; Chris Ross is out for the rest of the conference because of an ACL; Marlou Aquino had his hamstring injured; while Chris Timberlake also suffered a calf strain three days after being hired by the Bolts from the free agent market.
“We were definitely under-manned,” said Gregorio.
With Isip around, Gregorio must’ve felt a large amount of relief.
Isip’s production was the highest since he scored a career-high 29 when he was still with Barako Coffee in the Philippine Cup. He shot 12-of-18 from the floor, went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and had no turnover in 29 minutes.
Champ Oguchi, who never left the country after reinforcing Meralco in the Commissioner’s Cup, added 26 points and 10 rebounds while Sol Mercado contributed 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Petron, apparently never the same team again after trading Dondon Hontiveros, Dorian Pena, Danny Seigle and Paul Artadi to Air21, was led by the 18 points from Washington and Alex Cabagnot. Its import, Ricky Harris, was practically non-existent, merely churning eight points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field with no rebound across his name.