Games today:
Smart Araneta Coliseum
5:15 p.m.- Barako Bull vs. B-Meg
7:30 p.m.- Petron Blaze vs. Meralco
Opening day winners Barako Bull Energy and B-Meg Llamados fight for the early leadership when they lock horns today in the first game of the 37th PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Colliding in the main game are the Petron Blaze Boosters and the Meralco Bolts, two teams looking to barge into the win column after dropping their first assignments.
Barako Bull and B-Meg started their campaign with contrasting wins with the former scoring an easy 98-78 win over the Alaska Aces and the latter edging out the Meralco Bolts, 96-93.
Willie Miller led Barako Bull’s win with 25 points, while import Dermarr Johnson had 19.
B-Meg, on the other hand, leaned on its import Denzel Bowles in escaping the Bolts by scoring 27 points.
Meralco’s import Jarrid Famous scored 24 points in that loss.
Petron is aching to bounce back from a sorry 82-84 loss to the Barangay Ginebra Kings.
Jayjay Helterbrand keyed that narrow victory by Ginebra by knocking down a buzzer-beating jumpshot over the outstretched arms of Petron import Nick Fazekas, whose 37-point explosion went down the drain.