MERALCO’S banked on Tony Bishop’s prolific scoring down the stretch to defeat Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 83-74, in Game 3 on Sunday for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship series for Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at a full-house Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Bolts turned the tide to their favor in the second half specifically in the fourth quarter where they outscored the Gin Kings, 21-13, behind Bishop and a solid defense that made up for their 93-99 defeat two nights ago in Game 2.
Bishop scattered 30 points—17 in the second half—in addition to 16 rebounds and two steals to lead his team.
But it was the team’s leech-like defense that pleased Meralco coach Norman Black.
“It sounds like a broken record sometimes, but both teams really played good defense tonight and you can tell that by the score,” Black said. “Bishop played well and the rest of the players gave everything to slow down Ginebra’s offense.”
“It was difficult to score out there and it was a matter of getting some stops and try to hold on as long as we could,” Black added.
A dunk by Bishop gave the Bolts a 77-71 cushion that the Bolts’ didn’t relinquish.
Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi also combined for 14 points each in the final quarter to add to Meralco’s cause in the match which saw 16,000 fans packing the arena, a sight that’s never seen in the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Newsome had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and Maliksi contributed 10 points after a forgettable Game 2 where he was scoreless.
Justine Browlee was a near perfect scoring machine in the first quarter where he tallied 11 points, but he made only eight points the next three quarters for a 19-point total on 8 of 21 shooting. His 15 rebounds, seven assists and six blocks also went to naught.
Game 4 returns to the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.