The Meralco Bolts welcomed new acquisition Ranidel De Ocampo with a 106-78 blowout win against the Alaska Aces in the Oppo PBA Governors’ Cup Friday at SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
De Ocampo, who was traded by long-time squad TNT last Monday, didn’t have problems fitting into the Bolts, scoring 10 points, two rebounds and one assist in his Bolts debut.
But while all eyes were on him, it was teammate Mike Tolomia who stole the spotlight. The rookie guard scored 17 out of his 24 points in the first half and finished with a perfect 6-for-6 clip from downtown.
Import Allen Durham also had his usual monster game, tallying 26 points, 18 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and one steal.
With Tolomia’s hot hands igniting the Bolts, Meralco dropped a 16-2 bomb to grab a comfortable 58-35 halftime cushion.
The Aces trimmed their deficit to 12 in the third quarter, but they didn’t have enough weapons to complete a comeback as the Bolts expanded their lead to as big as 31 points.
With the win, Meralco improved to 7-2 and moved within reach of locking a twice-to-beat ticket in the quarterfinals.
The loss meanwhile doomed Alaska’s hopes of making it to the next round. At 3-7, the Aces need to beat Rain or Shine in their last elimination round assignment and hope that Blackwater (4-5) and Star (4-3) don’t reach five wins to have a shot at a playoffs spot.
The scores:
MERALCO 106 – Durham 26, Tolomia 24, Amer 17, Newsome 10, De Ocampo 10, Hodge 8, Lanete 5, Nabong 3, Caram 2, Atkins 0, Yeo 0, Sedurifa 0, Hugnatan 0, Faundo 0.
ALASKA 78 – Henton 23, Casio 18, Manuel 10, Abueva 8, Racal 8, Enciso 3, Banchero 3, Exciminiano 2, Pascual 2, Mendoza 1, Thoss 0, Baclao 0, Galliguez 0.
Quarters: 28-22, 58-35, 78-59, 106-78.
