MANILA — The Meralco Bolts dropped a devastating 11-0 bomb late in the game to beat the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 94-81, Wednesday night in Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals at the jampacked Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts thus reduced Ginebra’s lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1 with a chance to level the count in Game 4 set Friday night.

Back-to-back Best Import awardee Allen Durham raged like an unstoppable wildfire all night long, finishing with team-highs of 38 points and 20 rebounds on top of four assists, five blocks, and two steals in over 43 minutes of action.

Durham found unexpected support from Reynel Hugnatan who came off the bench to pour 22 markers, including seven three-pointers, along with five rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Meralco coach Norman Black was forced to give Hugnatan extended minutes after Ranidel de Ocampo suffered a calf injury in the first quarter. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Hugnatan tore Ginebra defense with his long-range bombs.

The Bolts won even with star point guard Baser Amer failing to score even a single basket, missing all his six shots in 13 minutes of play.

Unlike in Games 1 and 2, Meralco found a way to neutralize Ginebra’s height and rebounding advantage, with both teams amassing 50 rebounds apiece. The Kings actually had a better shooting percentage, 43 percent (33-of-76 shots) against the Bolts’ 37 percent (33-of-87 shots). But Meralco more than made up for this with its huge bench point advantage, 40-20, and more three-point conversions, 11 of 31 (35 percent) as against Ginebra’s 6 of 22 (27 percent).

Meralco was down by two points, 75-77, with 6:04 left in the game, when the Bolts unleashed a crippling 11-0 run, nine of them scored by Durham, including a three-point play after a block on Ginebra counterpart Justin Brownlee, giving the Bolts an 86-77 edge with 2:47 remaining.

Ginebra’s LA Tenorio nailed a three-pointer to cut the deficit to six points, 80-86. But Durham scored on lay-up followed by a back-breaking three-pointer from the right corner by Jared Dillinger, giving the Bolts a 91-80 advantage that was too much for the Kings to overcome.

Brownlee led Ginebra with 15 points, 11 boards, two assists, and five blocks. LA Tenorio and Japeth Aguilar added 14 points apiece. Greg Slaughter finished with 12 markers while Scottie Thompson chipped in 10 points.