ROOKIE Alvin Pasaol joined forces with Mac Belo as the duo are slowly transforming into Meralco’s 1-2 U-Belt Boys Punch.
Pasaol and Belo provided the jolt that shoved the Bolts up front in the first half for a lopsided 79-66 rout of the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings on Thursday in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Pasaol, a former University of the East Red Warrior, hit 13 of his 15 points in the first half where Meralco built a 45-26 cushion, the widest margin in the game.
Belo, who played college ball just across Lepanto and Morayta—Far Eastern University where he was himself a King Tamaraw—scattered 10 of his 15 points also in the opening half for the Bolts who never backed down in notching their ninth victory against two losses.
Pasaol and Belo never faced each other during their University Athletic Association of the Philippines days—Belo was about a season Pasaol’s senior—but their combination was enough for Meralco coach Norman Black to grin from ear to ear at this point in the conference.
“A lot of guys are stepping up,” Black said. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s the next man’s up.”
Chris Newsome added 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Meralco, perhaps enough to redeem himself from paying a P20,000 fine for throwing the ball to Anthony Semerad in their game against NLEX on Wednesday.
“We wanted to go into the playoffs with momentum,” Black said. “Our offense was pretty good for the last three games.”
Meralco will enter the playoffs with a twice-to-beat advantage against the No. 7 Road Warriors.
The Gin Kings, who missed Japeth Aguilar (medial collateral ligament or MCL) and Scottie Thompson (health and safety protocols), dropped into a tie with Terrafirma and Phoenix Super LPG with a 4-7 record.
But thanks to NorthPort, Ginebra is alive and well in its quest to advance to the quarterfinals.
Robert Bolick unleashed a triple-double of 22 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists as fifth seed Northport routed Alaska, 122-94, even 7-foot Greg Slaughter sitting out the game to rest his body.
The victory set the Batang Pier up for a best-of-three quarterfinal duel with No. 4 San Miguel Beer.
Freshman Jamie Alonzo finished with 21 points, six rebounds, four rebounds and two blocks, while Paolo Taha added 18 points for the Batang Pier, who finished the elimination round with a 6-5 record.
Alaska ended its campaign with a 3-8 card.
Northport’s allowed Ginebra to salvage the eighth and last quarterfinal spot for a playoff series with Phoenix Super LPG.
Terrafirma yielded the quarterfinal seat to Phoenix by virtue of the winner-over-the-other rule. The Fuel Masters beat the Dyip, 96-84, last September 9.
“We don’t want to go to the playoffs with a loss. It just so happened that Ginebra was our opponent today,” added Black, whose Bolts outrebounded the Gin Kings (63-36) for more second chance points (23-7). “Everybody supports everybody.”
Ginebra narrowed the gap to 51-55 at the end of the third quarter behind Stanley Pringle. But Meralco doused the rally with Newsome sinking a three-pointer to give Meralco a 71-58 breather with four minutes and 21 seconds remaining.
The Bolts were never threatened the rest of the way.
Pringle led Ginebra with 19 points, while Christian Standhardinger had a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Without Thompson and Aguilar, Ginebra missed a lot of numbers. Thompson averaged 12.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 10 games in the conference while Aguilar was good for 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds in eight games.