Bolts wary of Beermen comeback

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite winning twice against the mighty San Miguel Beermen, the Meralco Bolts underscored that they are yet to crack the code of the defending champions.

Guard Chris Newsome said that while they are undefeated against the Beermen so far in the PBA Philippine Cup, they “can never count this team out.”

“This team is a championship team, a dynasty team. They are capable of doing amazing things. You were all there for the Beeracle, you know that you can never count this team out,” Newsome told reporters after Meralco’s 93-86 win on Wednesday to open the championship series.

“All I know is they’re going to go back to the drawing board, and they’re going to find ways to try to execute much better and to counter everything that we did tonight. That’s how good of an organization they are. They’re very smart all the way through,” he added.

The Bolts locked down on defense and made huge offensive rebounds in the final quarter to keep the Beermen at bay in Game 1.

They also weathered huge performances from June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter.

Fajardo had a double-double of 23 points and 10 reounds. Perez finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals despite being in foul trouble in the first half, and Lassiter sank three 3-pointers en route to 16 markers.

On the other hand, Meralco’s main guys – Chris Banchero, Newsome, Bong Quinto and Allein Maliksi – also exploded offensively.

Banchero and Newsome led the Bolts 18 apiece, while Quinto and Maliksi had 15 each.

But more than the offensive explosions, big men Cliff Hodge, Raymond Almazan and Brandon Bates also did the dirty work.

Hodge had seven points, 15 rebounds and two assists. Almazan struggled from the field with eight points but made up for it with seven boards.

The rookie Bates scored just two markers but had four boards and four blocks.

“They’re proven winners, so you can never count out the heart of a champion. For us, it’s just about staying humble and staying focused because we know what we’re trying to accomplish, we know what’ we’re believing in,” Newsome stressed.

“But as far as cracking the code on them, that’s almost impossible to crack the San Miguel