May 27, 2026
IT WAS Meralco’s turn to come up with a dagger of a shot this time around.
CJ Cansino redeemed himself from a costly missed shot in the last game by booming in a clutch four-pointer that helped point the Bolts to a 101-90 win over TNT Wednesday that tied up their PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Cansino more than made up for his missed drive that led to a 75-77 loss last Sunday with what proved to be the game’s biggest shot pulling Meralco away from a 83-90 count, with still 1:21 to go.
The 4-pointer also seemed to have taken the wind out of the Tropang 5G’s sails as they lapsed into a series of errors in their final thrusts while Javee Mocon and Cliff Hodge sealed the scoring that leveled the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
Cansino wound up with 17 points to complement the 20-point, 13-rebound effort of new import Patrick Gardner before the latter fouled out with the Bolts hanging on to a shaky 93-87 lead, still 3:26 left in the game.
“Siguro mas natuto lang kami sa past games namin and ‘yung composure namin mas kailangan pa naming diinan pa kasi ganu’n palagi nagiging problema namin, eh,” said Cansino, who had a pre-game average of just 8.3 points.
“Masaya kami na hindi nangyari iyon ngayon and hopefully madala namin iyong confidence na ibinigay ng game na ito sa mga next games pa.”
Meralco coach Luigi Trillo was also pleased with his team maintaining its composure in the endgame. “We had to stay positive and the guys pulled through eventually in the fourth,” he said.
“They found their rhythm there even with Patrick fouling out. I thought we did a good job as a team keeping our poise not only on offense but defense as well.”
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Trillo also lauded Gardner’s initial overall performance despite the 7-foot American-Egyptian suffering cramps that forced a brief sidelining in the third period. “Pat had cramps today but he was pretty solid,” he noted.
“He does the right thing on the court. He makes the right decisions. But it wasn’t just Pat. I thought everybody came to play, especially when he fouled out. We had Javee and Cliff hold the fort.”
TNT also paraded a new import in Chris McCullough, who marked his return to the league with a gamehigh 24 points on top of nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Jordan Heading added 15 points and Rogoer Pogoy and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser chipped in 14 points apoece for TNT, but Calvin Oftana only managed 10 points on just eight attempts from the floor, his rhythm clearly affected by early foul trouble.
McCullough also got saddled by fouls early but came alive in the second half with 17 of his points and helping TNT, which trailed by as much as 15-28 early, even take a 67-64 lead.
Aaron Black then highlighted a 12-point game by leading an attack spanning the last two quarters before Mocon joined in and helped Meralco take back the upper hand. (NC)
The Scores:
Meralco 101 – Gardner 20, Cansino 17, Mocon 13, Black 12, Newsome 11, Hodge 8, Banchero 8, Brickman 6, Quinto 4, Almazan 2.
TNT 90 – McCullough 24, Heading 15, Pogoy 14, Ganuelas-Rosser 14, Oftana 10, Castro 8, Galinato 4, Nambatac 0, Enciso 0, Aurin 0, Khobuntin 0, Quitevis 0.
Quarters: 32-23; 50-48; 73-71; 101-90.
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