With Mike Cortez back, Meralco Bolts finally win
Finally.
In their 5th try this conference, the Meralco Bolts were finally able to get a win over the struggling Alaska Aces 88-87. And for the first time in a long time, they had veteran point guard Mike Cortez back in the lineup.
The “Cool Cat” was a catalyst in their much needed win with 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists. He knocked down threes, got into the lane, shot some free throws, but more importantly, provided a sense of calmness and fluidity in the Meralco offense. Whenever the Bolts had trouble getting a shot, he was the guy saying “Guys, relax. I got this. Let’s take our time.” It was a reminder on just how the Cool Cat was really cool in any circumstance.
At the beginning of the game however, it seemed that Meralco was off to its usual ways. They had difficulty scoring and gave room for Alaska to lead by as much as 7 points. Aces’ import Henry Walker, who has been on a tug of war type of predicament the last couple of games on whether or not he should facilitate more or shoot more, seemed to finally find the perfect balance in his game. Even though the Bolts led 44-38 at the break, he was on a roll and being aggressive. He finished 25 pts, 9 rebs, and 10 assists. Now that’s balance.
But Alaska needed more to win in this one. They had a scoreless output from Sunny Thoss who struggled mightily with foul trouble. He was attracting fouls like he was the cutest boy in a soiree but did nothing the entire night. He was out of sync and that hurt Alaska.
With Thoss not being a factor, Cliff Hodge was in Cliff “Freakin’” Hodge mode. It’s like someone pressed the Hustle Button on this guy and hasn’t let go since. He had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds (7 of them were offensive!). You could just feel Coach Alex Compton scratching his head as Hodge was literally flying all over the place and getting rebounds and out hustling his entire squad.
The Alaska Aces did have a chance in the end but it was a blunder that might have caused poor Dondon Hontiveros to loose some sleep. Hontiveros got a pass from a slicing Walker and had chance in door #1 to shoot the ball from the outside. But Hontiveros didn’t like what was on door #1 so he drove to the basket to check door #2 which was to go up for a layup or at least fish for a foul. But he chose door #3: a bailout pass to an unexpected Walker with very little on the clock. No prize for Hontiveros and the Aces.
For the Meralco Bolts, this might be the perfect time to rack up some wins. With Cortez at the helm, the Bolts look calm and now ready to shake things up in the conference.
Photo by Nuki Sabio (PBA Images)
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