CHRIS Banchero's search for a first-ever PBA championship continues. And credit that to the work he's put on the court.<\/p>\r\r
Banchero played through a sprained finger throughout the series, but managed to save his best in the sudden death match versus Barangay Ginebra, firing a career-high 24 points as Meralco outlasted the league's crowd drawing squad, 78-69, on Friday night in Game 7 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals in San Jose, Batangas.<\/p>\r\r
\"I'm not the only one playing through injuries. Everybody on our team is banged up,\" said the Filipino Italian guard after the game, where he also made four triples and added six rebounds.<\/p>\r\r
\"It's just a tough series but there are really no excuses, not only physically but also mentally, being down 3-2, our backs are against the wall. Everybody was against us, but coach Nenad [Vucinic] put it up,\" added the former Seattle Pacific standout.<\/p>\r\r
The fifth overall pick in the 2014 PBA Draft said reaching the Finals was not the only goal. But the Bolts intend to go all the way at winning the franchise's first-ever All-Filipino crown, even though their last opponent this conference will be the powerhouse San Miguel Beermen (SMB).<\/p>\r\r\r<\/figcaption>\r<\/figure>\r\r
\"Obviously, we go to this conference, and we don't just want to make the Finals but win the Finals. We have to put in the work,\" he added.<\/p>\r\r
Banchero said team owner and longtime Philippine sports patron Manny Pangilinan met with the Bolts shortly after they fell behind, 3-2, in the semifinal series.\"<\/p>\r\r
\"He told us to believe, and we did,\" said Banchero.<\/p>\r\r
Now, Banchero said Meralco will have SMB as the team's last road block at winning the Philippine Cup crown.<\/p>\r\r
\"We're going against the top team. They (Beermen) won the championship last conference. They have a really good team and good coaching staff, but we're all excited. But then, we can't get too high on this and just need to push forward,\" he added.<\/p>\r\r
Meralco has reached the Finals four times in the Governors' Cup (2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021), but each time the team fell short against Ginebra.<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\",\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"page_number\":\"19\",\"initial_publication\":\"The Manila Times\",\"date_created\":\"2024-06-01 12:30:21\",\"date_modified\":\"2024-06-02 02:08:07\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Ian Christopher Sore\\u00f1o\",\"section_color\":\"#08F304\",\"target_page\":\"19\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":2616,"section_id":3,"seo_meta_keywords":"Banchero,displays,no-quit,mentality","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Banchero displays no-quit mentality","publish_time":"2024-06-02 01:14:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":0,"visit_count":100,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Richard Dy","ts":"2024-06-03 09:51:42","last_edited":"2024-06-02 02:08:07","alt_publish_time":"2024-06-01 12:30:24","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2024\\\\\/06\\\\\/01\\\\\/353797.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":693,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":727,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":1258,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"Chris Banchero PBA PHOTO\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":2}","author_name":"Richard Dy","section_name":"Sports","sub_section_name":"","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2024-06-03 09:51:42","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2024\/06\/02\/sports\/banchero-displays-no-quit-mentality\/1949464","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2024-06-02 01:14:00","page_number":"","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
CHRIS Banchero's search for a first-ever PBA championship continues. And credit that to the work he's put on the court.
Banchero played through a sprained finger throughout the series, but managed to save his best in the sudden death match versus Barangay Ginebra, firing a career-high 24 points as Meralco outlasted the league's crowd drawing squad, 78-69, on Friday night in Game 7 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals in San Jose, Batangas.
