MERALCO — not Barangay Ginebra — will be San Miguel Beer’s championship opponent in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup starting Wednesday, June 5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

After several heartbreaks at the hands of Ginebra in all their previous duels, Chris Banchero and Chris Newsome made sure the Bolts will have the last laugh this time.

With Banchero and Newsome leading the charge, the Bolts outsteadied the Kings, 78-69, in their sudden death match at the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas on Friday night.

Best Player of the Game winner Banchero finished with 24 points, including four back-breaking three-pointers, while Newsome contributed 20 points, six assists and two rebounds as the Bolts defeated the Gin Kings for the second time in three days and wrapped up the best-of-seven semifinal series, 4-3.

Meralco also defeated Ginebra, 86-81, at the Big Dome last Wednesday to force the winner-take-all encounter.

Bong Quinto, who was inserted into the starting lineup for the second straight game, added 10 points, four assists and three rebounds for Meralco, which rallied from an early 11-point deficit in the second quarter to escape with the victory.

Defense also made a big difference in Meralco’s triumph.

While no other Meralco players scored in double figures, the Bolts managed to get the job done in defense by holding the Kings to their lowest output in a game in the post-elims plays — 32 percent.

Leading Meralco’s juggernaut were Brandon Bates and Raymond Almazan.

Bates contributed six of the Bolts’ nine blocks, while Almazan and Cliff Hodge added two and one block, respectively.

Bates added six points and 13 rebounds, Almazan had three points and 10 boards and Hodge had eight points and six rebounds.

Scottie Thompson paced Ginebra with 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals.

With the win, the Bolts also booked their fifth PBA finals, including four trips to the Governors Cup title series.

The Bolts lost to the Justin Brownlee-led Gin Kings in all four title showdowns in the import-flavored conferences.

The scores:

Meralco (78) — Banchero 24, Newsome 20, Quinto 10, Hodge 8, Bates 6, Almazan 3, Caram 3, Pascual 2, Maliksi 2, Mendoza 0.
Ginebra (69) — Thompson 20, Standhardinger 16, Pringle 13, J.Aguilar 8, Pinto 5, Ahamisi 4, Cu 3, Tenorio 0
Quarterscores: 15-20, 36-31, 62-51, 78-69.

Game Wednesday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m. — San Miguel vs. Meralco

The results:

Game 1 — Ginebra 92, Meralco 88.
Game 2 — Meralco 103, Ginebra 91.
Game 3 — Meralco 87, Ginebra 80.
Game 4 — Ginebra 90, Meralco 71
Game 5 — Ginebra 89, Meralco 84.
Game 6 — Meralco 86, Ginebra 81
Game 7 — Meralco 78, Ginebra 69
(Meralco wins semifinal series, 4-3).

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya