Meralco team consultant Norman Black said the Bolts’ big men rose to the challenge of limiting San Miguel Beermen center June Mar Fajardo’s production in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

Black, one of the designated coaches for Meralco’s big men alongside Reynel Hugnatan, expressed his satisfaction that their centers and wing players managed to execute their assignments against Fajardo in their seven-game championship series.”

“Well, I think everybody was on board in terms of understanding how we play defense. Meralco has been a good defensive team, but we got better this year,” Black said after the Bolts’ championship win against the Beermen on Sunday.

“The biggest challenge for us in this series is how we will handle June Mar; of course, we cannot stop him but only slow him down,” he added. “Everybody is very attentive to how we have to get it done, and the players did very, very well.”

Among the Meralco bigs who took turns defending Fajardo in the series were Clifford Hodge, Raymond Almazan, Brandon Bates, Norbert Torres, Kyle Pascual, and Raymar Jose.
Black, who was the Bolts’ head coach during their previous finals defeats, said rookie center Bates stood out among the Meralco centers due to his physical style of defending Fajardo.”

“Let’s face it, Brandon was very… He just did things that we did not teach him in this series; he played very, very well for us, and he has a bright future ahead in the PBA,” Black said.

Overall, Black said he was happy for the Meralco management for finally getting their first PBA championship since taking over the Sta. Lucia Realtors franchised 14 years ago.

“I am personally happy for the Meralco management, the bosses, the employees, and the staff. All these years, this is a great feeling for the players; they worked hard for this,” Black said.

“I really think (Bolts head) coach Luigi (Trillo) and (active team consultant) coach Nenad (Vucinic) did a great job handling the team and leading us to the championship,” he added.