Maro West drove to the basket as the time expired to give Meralco a 113-112 win against Petron Blaze and allowed the squad to end its campaign on a high note in the PBA Governor’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

The winning basket summed up West’s game-long heroics, negated the Alex Cabagnot-led Boosters' fiery uprising from the halfway mark of the fourth period and enabled the Bolts to pull off the victory, their second straight against the league heavyweights.

Meralco coach Ryan Gregoio said the team enjoyed the game as it was their goal to end the season on a high note.

Anxious that they were not able to stop Cabagnot early on, Gregorio said they were glad to have “Super Mario” on their roster.

West lived up to the billing with a conference-high 41 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Mark Cardona added 26 and Sol Mercado 19 in Gregorio's rotation for the game, limited to just eight players.

The Bolts formally wound up their season at sixth with a 5-9 win-loss record for the conference and 20-23 overall, a stark improvement from their total 13-20 slate in their maiden year.

"We're a lot better in this conference from our previous ones. We definitely made huge progress this season," assessed Gregorio.

Cabagnot scattered 11 of his career-high 29 points and Chris Lutz 10 of his 22 in the fourth period to spark and fuel Petron's charge from as much as a 16-point deficit and a 91-105 hole.

Cabagnot's triple even made it a 112-111 count, before the Bolts executed their last play off a timeout for West to have the ball in the final 5.7 seconds.

"You want to give it to your best player. It's the basic principle, especially  if it's the last shot.  He can either go strong or create for his teammate. He took it upon himself to finish strong and he was rewarded," Gregorio explained.

Meralco’s win spoiled Cabagnot's game-high 10 assists and Arwind Santos' 16 points and as many rebounds as Petron wound up with a 6-8 record and fifth in the same tournament it ruled last year.*with a report from

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