MERALCO leaned on Aaron Black, Allein Maliksi and Chris Banchero to roll back NorthPort, 97-87, while TNT relied on Poy Erram and Jayson Castro to subdue Rain or Shine, 89-85, in overtime in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Black returned from a one-game absence due to a wrist injury to score 20 points on a 9-of-12 shooting as the Bolts improved to 3-1 for the season.

Maliksi and Banchero added 16 points apiece for the Bolts, who led by as many as 27 points (88-61) against the Batang Pier despite missing the services of Raymond Almazan.

The 6-7 Almazan was placed on a health and safety protocols

“We wanted to bounce back from our loss to TNT. I thought we played pretty good defense against TNT but our offense was really off and out of whack. But wise tonight, our offense flowed a lot better and our defense really held up,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.

“NorthPort is not a very big team so we can matchup with them size-wise. Toto (Jose) did a good job for us tonight with 13 rebounds.”

Jamie Malonzo had 21 points and Robert Bolick had 15 points for the Batang Pier, who have now lost three straight games after a 2-0 start.

Arwind Santos contributed 11 points in a losing cause for NorthPort.

Later, Erram scored six of his 13 points in the extra period as the Tropang Giga rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half and held off the Elasto Painters for a 4-2 record.

The 6-8 Erram himself hit the go-ahead basket, 87-85. He finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds

Castro had eight points in the Tropang Giga’s closing 10-0 run in regulation.

Troy Rosario led the way with 19 points and eigth rebounds, followed by Roger Pogoy with 12 points and returning Mikey Williams with 15 points.

Castro had 12 markers.

Mike Nieto topscored with 19 points for Rain or Shine, which went down to its fourth straight loss after an opening-day victory over Converge.

The scores:

First game

Meralco 97 – Black 20, Maliksi 16, Banchero 16, Hugnatan 11, Quinto 9, Jose 9, Newsome 7, Baclao 4, Pasaol 3, Hodge 2, Belo 0, Caram 0.
NorthPort 87 – Malonzo 21, Bolick 15, Santos 11, Ayaay 10, Calma 10, Balanza 9, Sumang 9, Dela Cruz 2, Apacible 0, Javier 0, Ferrer 0.
Quarterscores: 32-22, 56-37, 83-61, 97-87

Second game

TNT (89) – Rosario 19, M.Williams 15, Erram 13, Pogoy 12, Castro 12, Khobuntin 5, K.Williams 4, Alejandro 4, Tungcab 3, Cruz 2, Marcelo 0, Heruela 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0, Banal 0.
Rain or Shine (85) – Nieto 19, Mamuyac 18, Santillan 17, Nambatac 16, Torres 6, Belga 5, Norwood 2, Demusis 2, Caracut 0, Borboran 0.
Quarterscores: 20-17, 37-40, 51-62, 78-78, 89-85.