MANILA: Using its experience to great effect, the seasoned Meralco Bolts won the game they needed to for the all-important advantage in the first phase of the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals.

The Bolts played better on both ends at crunch time on Tuesday night and tripped young Globalport, 82-70, for the last twice-to-beat privilege in the first round of the playoffs of the season-opening conference at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.

Meralco turned up the heat in the fourth period, getting the goods from Cliff Hodge, John Wilson and Gary David before the rest of the squad held the Batang Pier to just 14 points in the quarter for the win.

The Bolts thus finished with a 6-5 record, good for sixth spot as they march into the first phase needing to defeat defending champion Purefoods just once to march on.

That match is scheduled Thursday at 7 p.m. with Alaska, the No. 3 seed, clashing with No. 10 NLEX also needing just one win. The survivors of both series will then clash in a KO match for a berth in the Final Four.

San Miguel Beer topped the elimination round with an expected romp over Blackwater, 91-62, and joined Rain or Shine in taking a break as both will watch the rest of the field slug it out.

Coach Leo Austria of San Miguel was able to give some of his stars a much-needed breather and his bench the exposure it needed in the blowout win.

June Mar Fajardo, the reigning MVP, played just over 25 minutes and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

San Miguel and Rain or Shine finished with 9-2 records but the Beermen won the tiebreak because of their win over the Elasto Painters in their only clash in the eliminations.

Rain or Shine, the losing finalist here the last two years, will get a break of at least 10 days after chopping down the Gin Kings, 100-90 last Sunday when Beau Belga scored 21 points and Paul Lee 18.

The loss was the sixth also in 11 games for the Batang Pier, who now have the unenviable task of defeating crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra, the No. 5 seed, twice to move on.

The other pairing will have Talk 'N Text, the No. 4, battling No. 9 Barako Bull with the Tropang Texters, whose run of three straight all-Filipino titles was snapped by Purefoods last season, also needing to win just once over the Energy.

Like the Elite, fellow newcomer KIA Motors and Manny Pacquiao were eliminated. Both, though, will get imports of unlimited height as consolation for being booted out here early.

“It’s good that we got a twice-to-beat because we need all the advantage we can get against Purefoods,” Meralco coach Norman Black told reporters. “It’s certainly something we would like to take advantage of.”

Purefoods also finished with a 6-5 mark like Ginebra and Meralco, but the Star Hotshots were relegated into the bottom half of the standings because of an inferior quotient.

And coach Tim Cone didn’t mince words in blasting the league for this format after his Hotshots scored a 99-83 victory over Barako Bull earlier in the day.

“I’ve been very vocal in the past that I think it’s a great disservice for teams being knocked out because of the quotient (system),” Cone, the architect of two Grand Slam-winning teams, said.

“I think it’s a really unfair setup. The whole idea is reward the best teams, but you can’t determine that by quotient,” he continued.

Marc Pingris paced the Hotshots with 20 markers, with Peter June Simon shooting 16 and Joe Devance 12.