Meralco moves on from botched Game 2 loss: 'We'll be better'

Meralco could have easily gone 2-0 in its best-of-seven Philippine Cup finals series against San Miguel, but the Bolts collapsed late in Game 2 to allow the Beermen to knot it up at one game apiece last Friday.

A potential triple dagger from Chris Banchero sent the Bolts to a 93-89 lead with 27 seconds left in the fourth, but that did not take the fight out of the defending champions. CJ Perez found himself a little opening against the defense of Chris Newsome to drain a long bomb and cut the deficit to just one. 

Banchero had the chance to stretch their lead back to three but he split his charities for a slim 94-92 separation in the final 20 ticks. That set the stage for the game-winning basket from Marcio Lasster, who buried just his second triple in five attempts to win it for the Beermen. 

Banchero had the chance to take the lead anew, but he also missed out on a desperate layup drive. 

Despite this, the Bolts are ready to move on, setting their sight on a bounce back bid come Game 3 later today. 

"These types of games, you know, you have to move on. We have to see the video also," Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo said post-game.

"At this point, you wanna be clinical  and not critical. Kumbaga kailangan namin mapanood ‘yung video, tignan namin kung saan ‘yung mga breakdowns."

Even with the crucial misses from his top guard, Trillo said his faith won't waver.

In fact, the 35-year-old Banchero was still one of their top scorers in the loss after he poured in 16 points, three rebounds, and four assists to supply the help to Cliff Hodge and Newsome, who churned out 25 and 14 markers each. 

"We want the ball in his hands. I mean, he made that big three rin eh but that’s why they’re San Miguel, that’s why they made championships. You know that they’ll be ready and that they’ll never give up," Trillo added.

"With that being said, I still think we didn’t play the way we should so we’ll be better come Sunday."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News