THE ELIMINATION round of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup goes into overdrive today as the Meralco Bolts and Alaska Aces play off for the right to earn the last quarterfinal spot available in the midseason tournament.
Set for 7 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena, the Bolts and Aces, sporting identical 4-7 records at the end of the eliminations, make one last go at advancing to the next round of the Commissioner’s Cup with a victory over the other.
Meralco put itself in such a position after taking down the San Miguel Beermen, 95-91, last Wednesday to force a three-way tie for eighth place with Alaska and the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters.
Having a superior quotient over the Fuel Masters though, the Bolts edged the former for the playoff match with the Aces.
Import Delroy James led and willed Meralco to the big victory over San Miguel, which dropped to seventh place in the standings with the loss and now faces a twice-to-win disadvantage in the quarterfinals.
Mr. James scored the last four points of the Bolts in said game to tow his team to the victory.
He led the way for Meralco with 34 points to go along with six assists, four steals and two blocks. Chris Newsome had 20 points while Raymond Almazan had 15.
“It was a game we had to have to stay alive. The players really stepped up both offensively and defensively. So we lived to fight another day,” said Meralco coach Norman Black after the win.
“Fighting Alaska will be a tough game for us, but we will take our chances,” he added.
The win also stopped for the Bolts a five-game losing streak.
Alaska, meanwhile, has been struggling, losing five games straight of their own.
The skid has effectively derailed their thrust of advancing to the next round and they hope salvage their season against Meralco.
The most recent of the defeats of the Aces came at the hands of the Blackwater Elite, 112-104, on July 14.
Alaska competed hard against Blackwater but just could not keep in step with the latter down the stretch to slump to the defeat.
Import Diamon Simpson had a near triple double of 24 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists for the Aces, with big men Sonny Thoss and Vic Manuel adding 15 points apiece.
The winner between Meralco and Alaska meets up with top seeds TNT KaTropa in the quarterfinals where it will have a twice-to-win disadvantage.
The rest of the quarterfinal pairings will have third seeds Blackwater taking on number six Rain or Elasto Painters in a best-of-three quarters and the fourth seeds and defending champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings battling number five Magnolia Hotshots Ang Pambansang Manok in a “Manila Clasico” best of three.
Quarterfinal action in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup begins on Saturday, July 20. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
