LED by a recent Southeast Asian Games hero Meralco was quick to dampen Alaska's hopes of making the PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals.
Allen Durham notched 26 points 18 rebounds and six assists, but it was the timely explosion of Mike Tolomia which led the Bolts to a cruising 106-78 victory over the Aces Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The win, its seventh in nine games, installed Meralco alongside idle leader Barangay Ginebra and bolstered its chances of finishing among the top four, which get a win-once incentive in the next round.
"I think you need at least eight wins to get the twice-to-beat. There're still a lot of teams fighting for the twice-to-beat so we'd try to get more wins," said Bolts coach Norman Black whose team winds up the elims against GlobalPort on Friday and San Miguel Beer on Sept. 24.
After absorbing its seventh loss in 10 games Alaska is now in dire straits.
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The Aces, who remained at 10th-running spot, must now prevail over Rain or Shine on Wednesday and hope their four wins would be enough for them to play off for the last spot in the eight-team quarters.
That unenviable situation was largely brought about by Tolomia, who led a big second- quarter explosion by Meralco that turned what started out as a close contest into a blowout.
Tolomia, who has not scored past 11 points in his previous team Rain or Shine and went into the game averaging just 5.3 points, scattered a career-high 24 points anchored on a perfect 6-for-6 three point shooting. Such impeccable shooting made him only the eighth player in league history to boom in at least six triples in a game without a miss.
The former Far Eastern U standout, acquired from Rain or Shine for Ed Daquioag early last month, was particularly hot in the second quarter where he scored 11 during a crucial run that enabled Meralco to lead by as many as 26 points before settling for a 58-35 count at the break.
"I thought Mike Tolomia was really great in the first half," noted Black.
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Alaska, which was led by LaDontae Henton's 23 points and Jayvee Casio's 18, whittled the deficit to just 59-71, late in the third period, but the likes of Durham, Baser Amer and Cliff Hodge were there to pad their lead back up to a high of 31 points.
Amer wound up with 17 points and Chris Newsome 10 points and six rebounds.
Tolomia's heroics stole the spotlight from another Meralco newcomer in Ranidel de Ocampo, recently acquired from TNT, who scored 10 points in his first game for his new team.
