Meralco dominates struggling Converge

Sports

THE Meralco Bolts got off to an electrifying start in the 50th PBA Commissioner’s Cup, dominating the slumping Converge FiberXers, 109-88, on Thursday night, March 19, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Import Marvin Jones, CJ Cansino, and Chris Newsome teamed up in the Bolts’ solid debut with the trio combining for 71 big points. Jones collected 29 points and eight rebounds, Cansino tallied 23 points on a 2-of-2 and 3-of-4 clips from four-point and three-point lines, respectively, while Newsome produced 19 markers in the 21-point blowout.

Cansino delivered his pair of four-point bombs when Converge moved within nine points after trailing by as many as 20 points.

Converge heavily felt the pinch of not having explosive guard Juan Gomez de Liano, who sat out due to a right bone contusion. The FiberXers continued to miss energetic forward Calvin Abueva as they dropped to 1-2 (win-loss) with their second straight loss after a shock 100-111 overtime loss to the Terrafirma Dyip last Saturday.

Alec Stockton led the FiberXers with 18 points while Justin Arana added 16 markers. Import Kylor Kelley scored just 12 points.

THE SCORES:

MERALCO (109) – Jones 29, Cansino 23, Newsome 19, Mocon 9, Bates 8, Banchero 6, Black 5, Quinto 5, Brickman 3, Hodge 2, Magbuhos 0, Almazan 0.

CONVERGE (88) – Stockton 18, Arana 16, Kelley 13, Baltazar 12, Garcia 12, Policarpio 7, Williams 5, Concepcion 3, Clementte 2, Muyang 0.QUARTERSCORES: 22-27, 48-45, 79-65, 109-88.(CCM)