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Meralco needs to ‘play with poise’ to close out San Miguel

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Meralco Bolts in Game 5 of the PBA philippine Cup Finals against San Miguel Beermen. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Playing with poise will be of utmost importance for Meralco as it tries to close out San Miguel in Game 6 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals on Sunday.

According to Chris Banchero, the Bolts will have to play their own brand of basketball if they want to avoid a do-or-die Game 7 against the mighty Beermen.

And Meralco locked in.

There were zero celebrations in the Meralco locker room Friday night despite moving just one win away from their first-ever PBA title.

HIGHLIGHTS: PBA Finals Game 5 San Miguel vs Meralco

“This goes without saying, we know how good their team is. We have to play with a lot of poise heading into this next game, be determined and work hard,” said Banchero on Friday after their thrilling 92-88 win over San Miguel.

“We know they’ll come out and give it their all and we’ll do the same. We know we’re in no position to do anything because we haven’t done anything.”

Banchero did his job for Meralco to get the 3-2 lead after scoring 12 with four rebounds.

READ: Meralco on brink of first PBA title after Game 5 win over San Miguel

Banchero is also aware that the Beermen are well-capable of mounting a comeback blitz over them.

After all, this is the same team that accomplished the “Beeracle,” winning a title after being down 0-3 in a best-of-seven series with the now-defunct Alaska in the 2016 Philippine Cup.

“They’re going to come out as hard as they can just like they did tonight and we have to play Meralco basketball, play good defense and give it our all.”



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“Sometimes, some guys are going to get hot and other nights we’ll have balanced scoring. We just have to make sure that regardless of what we’re doing on the offense, we’re doing our job on defense.”

Terrence Romeo determined to help San Miguel despite injury

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San Miguel Beermen guard Terrence Romeo suits up in PBA Finals Game 4. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Beer coach Jorge Gallent commended Terrence Romeo for playing through the pain in Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

In the Beermen’s 111-101 conquest of Meralco, Romeo played significant minutes despite nursing an aching calf.

Gallent said that Romeo insisted on playing for the Beermen in hopes of avoiding a 3-1 rut.

“Terrence played well but I’m sure he’s not healthy yet but the kid just wants to win and help the team, that’s why he played now,” said Gallent at Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

“[He’s still listed as] day-by-day. He just decided to play because he really wanted to help the team.”

In just 18 minutes of action, Romeo delivered like he wasn’t in pain with seven points, three assists and a rebound.

Still listed as day-to-day by San Miguel, Gallent said he’s just happy with how Romeo is treating the PBA Finals series even with an injury.

“I’m very happy that that’s his mentality. He talked to me yesterday and said he’ll try it and in case I bring him inside, he’ll give his 110, which he did now.”

“I told him, if there’s a chance that I can bring you inside, can you play at least a hundred percent? He did it today. Very happy that he followed the instructions.”



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Meralco, San Miguel brace for war ahead of Game 5

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San Miguel Beermen vs Meralco Bolts in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

SCHEDULE: PBA Finals San Miguel vs Meralco

MANILA, Philippines—There has been a popular notion in basketball that when a best-of-seven duel is tied at 2-2, whoever wins Game 5 wins the series.

While that may have proven true for several series in the past, players from Meralco and San Miguel don’t see the same thing going down in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

Just ask Chris Newsome and Chris Ross, who will be leading their respective teams in the now-virtual best-of-three series for the All-Filipino trophy.

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in series,” said Newsome in jest after their 111-101 loss to the Beermen in Game 4 of the Finals at Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

READ: PBA Finals: San Miguel gets back at Meralco to tie series at 2-2

“You can never count one team out because the goal is to win two now. [It] doesn’t matter how you win two. You can win the first one, lose the second and win the third or lose the first and win two straight.”

The all-important Finals Game 5 is on Friday.

Newsome and the Bolts could’ve avoided the 2-2 deadlock, but the Beermen found their footing just in time to tie their duel again.

Despite Newsome’s career-best 40 points on a waxing-hot 66 percent shooting clip, Meralco wasn’t able to tame the mammoth of a man in June Mar Fajardo.

Take the ‘Beeracle’

San Miguel Beermen center June Mar Fajardo steers his team in Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals against Meralco Bolts.

San Miguel Beermen center June Mar Fajardo steers his team in Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals against Meralco Bolts. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Fajardo, who minutes before the game was awarded as the Best Player of the Conference, proved that he deserved the plum by dropping 28 points and 13 rebounds, pushing San Miguel to knot the series at two games a piece.

Fajardo is no stranger to pressure in big moments. He was, after all, an important part of PBA history with the “Beeracle,” a moment Newsome acknowledged with the series reaching a crescendo after Game 4.

“I always refer back to the Beeracle where they had to win four straight so it’s definitely not impossible to pull it off if you don’t win that one (Game 5) but it really comes down to who plays great basketball, who hits shots and who’s more focused,” said the Gilas guard.

Moments after Newsome’s exit from the Big Dome, Chris Ross emerged out of San Miguel’s dugout.

READ: PBA Finals: Shackled June Mar Fajardo key to Meralco success

His squad took an important win, sure, but Ross wasn’t displaying much of a happy face.

Like Newsome, he too doesn’t believe that whoever wins the fifth game wins the best-of-seven clash.

“It’s first to four however you can get there, however you get it. We knew this was going to be a long series,” said a focused Ross.

“We know they’re a good team and we’re a good team as well. They’re fighting for their first chip and we’re fighting to keep the trophy,” he added.

Ross didn’t have much of an impact offensively with six points, only one out of his six tries from the field.

It is, however, in the intangibles where Ross affected the game positively for the Beermen. He dropped six assists to his teammates in the statement win, opening up opportunities when needed for San Miguel. He also snagged four steals, stunning the Meralco front on offense.

But Ross means business in the next games and he doesn’t care how long the Beermen takes to get there, as long as his squad wins their second straight PBA title.



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“I really don’t care how long it goes, as long as we win. We’re ready for whatever.”

Preseason win ‘nothing’ as Maroons focus on real target: UAAP crown

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UP Fighting Maroons’ Francis Lopez in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball finals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

University of the Philippines (UP) retained its status as the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup champion, but it didn’t matter too much for the Fighting Maroons even though they hurdled a familiar, bitter foe.

“To be honest, nothing really. This is just the preseason, like I said, and this is nothing for us,” reigning UAAP Rookie of the Year Francis Lopez said after the Maroons put together a second half comeback for a 69-66 triumph over La Salle on Wednesday night in San Juan City.

It is no secret where the Maroons have their eyes on—a drastically bigger target: Another UAAP crown.

“We just tried to win today and go home cause we have a lot of things to work on,” Lopez, the tournament’s Defensive Player of the Year, nonchalantly said. “This is not really our goal, but we just thank God, [because] we worked really hard for this. Our goal is the UAAP, not this one, so it’s just another game for us.”

UP has become a powerhouse team in the UAAP in the last decade or so, clinching its second championship in 2022 and coming close to adding to that in the next two years only to fall short to Katipunan neighbor Ateneo and then to La Salle.

And UP is not making it a secret that those consecutive heartbreaking seasons are the Maroon’s motivation to be better, the wounds still fresh even for the fans who filled the Filoil EcoOil Centre on Independence Day.

“We’re on a roller coaster. We gotta be consistent about what we do, what we plan about and coach Gold (Monteverde) keeps telling us that we just gotta be consistent,” Lopez said. “If the shots are not going in, you just continue, especially on defense.”

While consistency still has to be worked on by UP, its heart and hunger to win games were exuded by the Maroons, who aren’t wasting any time to improve. They are set to start a training camp in Serbia that will last until June 30 before flying again to South Korea.

“I’d say not even 50 percent,” Lopez said when asked about the readiness of UP. “We have a lot of things to work on like consistency, mostly, and like what coach Gold keeps saying, keeps on telling us, to not be complacent as well.

“So whatever team we face, we can’t be complacent. And that’s what we did tonight (Wednesday).”



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PBA Finals: With tiebreaker looming, Meralco tries to dig out more points

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Meralco Bolts’ Chris Newsome during Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals against San Miguel Beermen. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Producing the best scoring game of his PBA career with 40 points provided little silver lining for Meralco’s Chris Newsome after San Miguel Beer evened things up at 2-2 in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

“It’s great that I scored 40, but the win is definitely more important,” Newsome said after the Game 4 defeat on Wednesday night.

Newsome and the Bolts have another crack at getting a third win, and closer to their first-ever PBA title, in Friday’s pivotal fifth game of the series at Smart Araneta Coliseum. But not only will the Bolts face the pressure of a tied series, they will enter the 7:30 p.m. contest in urgent need of a plan to figure out how to counter the adjustments San Miguel made in getting a 111-101 win two nights earlier.

The scoreline already offers a clue to how the Beermen succeeded in solving the Bolts defensive schemes. For the first time in the series, a team won by scoring at least 100 points.

A grindout, defensive affair has often favored the Bolts throughout their playoff run, and that was the reason Meralco won two of the first three games of the Finals.

But the Beermen finally showed their offensive juggernaut that they have been known for throughout the two-conference season.

June Mar Fajardo’s 28 points epitomized why there are now cracks in the vaunted Meralco defense that centered on making life miserable for the newly crowned Best Player of the Conference, while CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter continued their consistent form in the series.

Balanced offense is key

And then the minutes provided by Vic Manuel and Terrence Romeo, who both played for the first time in the Finals, also proved vital.

“[San Miguel scoring 111 points] is definitely more than what we’re used to giving up,” Newsome said. “We have to go back and play Meralco basketball which is defensive-minded and I think we lost a bit of that [in Game 4].”Balanced offense will also be key for the Bolts as Newsome’s scoring output overshadowed a lack of support from some of the team’s key sources for baskets.

Allein Maliksi and Bong Quinto could only combine for 15 points on 5-of-19 shooting in Game 4. Both had scoring averages of at least 10 in the first three games.

Beermen coach Jorge Gallent wouldn’t mind making that a trend.

“As long as the rest don’t score, we’re fine,” said Gallent, who will also be wary of other Meralco players picking up the slack like Cliff Hodge.



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Aside from being a pest on defense, Hodge has put up 14.8 points a game in the Finals, third on the team behind Newsome and guard Chris Banchero (16.3).