“Petron’s offense starts with Cabagnot,” said Yeng Guiao.
Wednesday night against a talented sister-team, Cabagnot likewise demonstrated he could close out a to-and-fro match by himself.
Petron’s ace point guard highlighted a brilliant fourth quarter by scoring five of the ball club’s final nine points besides flicking a crucial assist, and the Boosters picked up their second straight win, beating B-Meg, 87-84, in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Cabagnot knocked in a three-point shot to break the last deadlock at 78, fed import Jeremy Wise for a fast-break lay-up in Petron’s next possession, and then capped his amazing performance with two free throws in the last 9.1 seconds as the Boosters took a key step of advancing into the next round by occupying solo second spot with their fourth win in six games.
“Defense did it again,” said Petron coach Ato Agustin, who had to endure two successive inbounds pass errors in a span of 16 seconds late in the game before heaving a sigh of satisfaction the moment Joe Devance’s desperation three-point shot at the buzzer drifted right.
Defense was the thing lacking in the Boosters’ game when they absorbed one of their worst defeats this season – a 113-83 loss to Rain or Shine last June 24. Since then, however, Petron has been working double-time.
Wise was magnificent, too, before he left the game with 43 seconds to go after getting hit in the knee during a drive. He finished with 20 points behind the 23 of Arwind Santos, while Cabagnot wound up with 13 points and 11 assists.
Wise’s layup gave Petron an 85-81 lead, which was cut down to three when Marc Pingris had a split.
B-Meg, coming off a 111-105 win over Talk ‘N Text in Dubai, however closed the gap after James Yap broke loose from Sunday Salvacion for an easy two with 15.3 seconds left to play to make it a 85-84 ball game.
Cabagnot was immediately fouled after the inbounds and sank both charities, leaving the Llamados, left without a timeout, to scamper for a game-tying triple.
Import Darnell Hinson, who scored 26 points against the Texters, was a complete flop this time. He finished with a conference-low five points on a horrible 1-of-10 shooting and 2-of-5 from the free-throw stripe.
The victory by Petron stole some glitter away from Tim Pickett, Meralco’s new import, and Asi Taulava, the Bolts’ 38-year-old slotman.
Pickett debuted with 32 points, 24 coming in the first half, while Taulava had 16 points he capped with a dunk he rarely performs anymore and 12 rebounds as Meralco snapped out of a two-game losing slide with a 93-86 victory over Air21.
“It’s nice to see Asi having his fountain of youth,” said Bolts’ coach Ryan Gregorio after the game. “Pickett can score in a variety of ways, but his biggest contribution was that he was able to bring the ball down and give Sol (Mercado) some rest.” Mercado had eight assists and scattered 15 points, but seven of those came in the fourth quarter including a drive after an isolation play at the top of the key as the Bolts parried a fearless challenge from a ball club that was fighting for its life to advance into the next round, the carry-over semi-finals.
Instead, the Express have been eliminated with still three games left in their itinerary, a team reduced to shambles with no win to show in five games and one that has dropped its last eight games counting the three-game sweep it suffered against Talk ‘N Text in the best-of-five semi-final round of the Commissioner’s Cup.
“The victory tonight was encouraging because even though we’re still missing key players (Mark Cardona and Chris Ross), we can still compete in this tough league,” Gregorio said.
Yousif Aljamal added 10 points off the bench while Gabby Espinas added 10 rebounds, including a game-high seven offensive, for Meralco, which had a whopping 67-32 advantage in the rebounding department including a 27-9 edge on the offensive end.
That part of the game gave the Bolts a 26-5 spread in points scored off turnovers as Meralco gained a piece of third spot along with idle Rain or Shine at 3-2 (win-loss).
Meralco led by as large as 66-51, but saw that lead whittled down to within 83-80. Nelbert Omolon and Gabby Espinas (12 rebounds, 8 offensive), though, retaliated with baskets of their own, and Express import Alpha Bangura committed two straight errors before Mercado nailed down that key basket that sealed the win.
Bangura finished with 31 points and Danny Seigle 17 for Air21, which led 21-12 in the first quarter before Meralco rallied with a 23-5 run, 9 coming from Pickett, as the Bolts seized the upperhand, 35-26, they never relinquished.
“We talked before the game and concluded that the biggest chance for us to win is to play defense,” Gregorio said. “Our target was to limit Air21 to 88 points, and we achieved it. For a team lacking in personnel, it’s imperative to make necessary stops.”
