MANILA — The Petron Blaze Boosters finally showed the stuff that made them the team to beat this PBA season, blasting the Barako Bull Energy Cola, 98-89, Wednesday in the 2012-2013 Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Still smarting from their humbling loss to the current PBA Governor's Cup champions Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their opening game, the Boosters this time got their act together as they unleashed the true ferocity of their firepower. Chris Lutz led the Boosters with 22 points, while Arwind Santos and Alex Cabagnot chipped in with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Petron head coach Olsen Racela attributed the win to their much-improved defense. Noting Petron's lackluster defense in their last game that allowed Rain or Shine to score 102 points, Racela said this “was just too many points to give up.” Down by 12 at the end of the third quarter, Barako Bull made their last-ditch stance, cutting the lead to five midway in the final canto. But Cabagnot and Santos nailed clutch baskets to bail Petron out of trouble. Josh Urbiztondo led Barako Bull with 17 points, while Mick Pennisi and Rico Villanueva chipped in with 16 and 13, respectively, as the Energy Cola suffered their first defeat after winning their first game. In the curtain-raiser of the Wednesday twinbill, rookie Cliff Hodge electrified the crowd with his devastating performance, leading the Meralco Bolts to a 93-86 victory against the luckless Alaska Aces – their first win in the conference following a 110-112 overtime loss to the Talk N Text Texters last week. Called the “Energizer Bunny” by his teammates, Hodge scored a game-high 20 points, including 12 in the pivotal third quarter when the Bolts started to pull away. The 6'4” guard showed a variety of dazzling moves, scoring on drives, fastbreak layups, short jumpers and putbacks. Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio was all praise for his prized rookie. “It's unusual to have a rookie dictate the play. We're just fortunate we were able to draft Hodge because obviously, he's brought a lot of excitement (to the team),” Gregorio said. Cyrus Baguio top scored for Alaska with 19 points as the Aces joined GlobalPort Batang Pier at the bottom of the standings with their second straight loss.
