ANY team missing several key players would have easily faltered. Not Meralco.
Even without Allein Maliksi, Raymond Almazan, and Aaron Black, together with reserves Norbert Torres and Raymar Jose, the Bolts continue to thrive.
“Right now, we’re just an injured group. You know, no Allein, no AB (Black), no Raymond, no Cliff (Hodge) So, we just have to find a way to win,” coach Luigi Trillo said. “He (Almazan) was supposed to be back now, but you know we’re checking on his knee.
“It seems like it’s longer than it should be,” he added.
Trillo spoke after his wards turned back the NorthPort Batang Pier 109-99 last Sunday night for their second straight win and a share of Group A lead with TNT in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Hodge saw action for only seven minutes after back issues resurfaced in the duel. Maliksi has a hurting knee, and Black is nursing a meniscus injury, with both players expected to be out for a month.
Torres is down with dengue, while Almazan is also dealing with a knee injury.
But the rest of Trillo’s players are rising to the occasion especially against the Batang Pier in scoring a fitting follow up to a 107-91 clobbering of the Terrafirma Dyip last Aug. 28 and climbing to 3-1.
“They’re (bench) playing minutes now na madaming wala. So, ano lang kami, on to the next one,” Trillo said.
Import Allen Durham barely missed a triple-double with 34 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists for the Bolts while Chris Banchero added 23 markers and eight boards.
Bong Quinto and Anjo Caram also had 18 and 10 points, respectively, for Meralco.
NorthPort failed to sustain its fiery form shown in an emphatic 135-109 rout of Converge five days ago and fell to an even 2-2 slate.
Trillo admitted the Batang Pier gave the Bolts fits.
“I thought our third quarter was solid all around. We’re a little bit choppy in the first, but I thought that third quarter was enough for us to have that bigger lead,” Trillo said.
“Overall, (we had) enough to beat a tough NorthPort team.”
Buoyed by a career-best 51 points against the FiberXers, NorthPort gunner Arvin Tolentino was held to only 21 points while William Navarro and Joshua Munzon got 18 and 16, respectively.
“Moving forward it’s going to be a tough stretch for us. We have Converge and Magnolia (next),” Trillo said. “I think at this point, we just have to make sure that we take care of them (injured players) healing-wise.”
