MERALCO guns for its second win early in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup when the Bolts battle a fresh-looking GlobalPort Batang Pier today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts made an impression following their dominant 116-103 conquest of the Columbian Dyip last Wednesday with import Arinze Onuaku providing the numbers despite not being in good shape.
The Batang Pier, on the other hand, parades a new-look lineup without its former star guard, Terrence Romeo, who had just debuted against them with TNT in the conference curtain-raiser.
The Meralco-GlobalPort game starts at 4:30 p.m. Alaska and Rain or Shine, on the other hand, open their campaigns in the mid-season tournament at 7 p.m.
Onuaku was ill with Meralco Head Coach Norman Black baring that their returning import had to be admitted to the hospital after the game. He did not stay what is bothering their reinforcement.
But Onuaku was a force on the floor and finished with 30 points and 19 rebounds. Chris Newsome added 18 points for the Bolts, while Nico Salva and Niño Canaleta contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.
“Great effort. We need it,” Black said.
It was chemistry that gave them the win, Black added, and he hopes they could wield the momentum against GlobalPort.
“Hopefully we could sustain the effort going to our next game,” he said.
The Batang Pier absorbed a 114-128 beating from the KaTropa last Sunday in a match where their former scoring machine, Romeo, struggled to find his rhythm.