Meralco draws first blood against Ginebra

TENSE MOMENT:Meralco's Chris Newsome and Baser Amer fight for the ball against Ginebra's L.A. Tenorio (5) in the Governors’ Cup final at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao on Friday. (AN photo)

Meralco coach Norman Black knows exactly the reason why his Bolts are on a run and are knocking at the door of a first-ever PBA championship.
“We seem to have a good finishing kick these days,” Black said after his Bolts came from behind to nip crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra, 114-109 in overtime, for first blood in their best-of-seven title series in the Governors’ Cup before a mammoth crowd on Friday at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
“It’s just a good time to beat them,” Black said. “We didn’t beat anybody in the first conference (the Philippine Cup).”
Allen Durham made a case for himself in the Best Import race, shooting 46 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and missing a triple double by just three assists as Meralco, listed as the decided underdog before this series, made heads turn and will take momentum into Game 2 scheduled on Sunday.
The Bolts trailed by nine at the half and went into the fourth still staring at a five-point deficit before rallying and pushing the Gin Kings against the ropes.
LA Tenorio, who has also been playing splendidly the entire conference, forged extension at 102-all after connecting on a floating layup with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Durham, though, simply couldn’t be denied as he drilled the first seven points in overtime and all but put the issue to rest, 109-102.
“He (Durham) is really a driving force for us,” Black, a Grand Slam winner with San Miguel Beer in 1989 and a champion coach with Sta. Lucia and Talk ‘N Text before coming over to Meralco, said. “The other guys just contributed and that’s just big.”
Rookie Chris Newsome scored 17 points, Reynel Hugnatan had 15 and Jimmy Alapag contributed 13 as Meralco won for the fourth straight time in the playoffs counting the last three that ousted No. 1 TNT KaTropa in the Final Four.
Tenorio finished with 36 points for the Gin Kings, who are in their first title series appearance under Tim Cone and first in three years since being swept by Alaska in the Commissioner’s Cup championship.
And for a while, the Kings played like the favorites that they are as they played with command for most of the first three periods.
Until that finishing kick Black talked about set in for the Bolts, who ground out the win even with Jared Dillinger continuing to sit it out because of a hamstring injury and Cliff Hodge, the hero in Meralco’s Game 4 win over the Texters, held to just four points.
Meralco actually trailed by 11 halfway through the fourth quarter before the Bolts let it all hang out as Alapag connected on a triple with just over 33 seconds left to shove them ahead,, 101-100.
Durham then made it a two-point edge with 6.8 to go with a split from the charity stripe before that Tenorio bucket sewed things up and sent the mostly pro-Ginebra crowd of just over 14,000 roaring and stomping their feet.
That Alapag triple was his second and last for the night, but it tied him with the great Allan Caidic for the most made in a career – 1,242 – with the 5-foot-8 Meralco skipper having at least three more games left in the season to break the mark.
“It’s just the first game of the championship and we struggled a bit,” Black went on. “It was a well-fought game.”