MANILA, Philippines -- Import Tony Bishop earned Player of the Game honors and Chris Newsome's bounce-back game also earned plaudits, but for Meralco coach Norman Black, another player was the difference-maker for them in Game 3 of the PBA Governors' Cup finals.

Cliff Hodge went 0-of-3 from the field and finished scoreless, but Black said he was crucial to their 83-74 triumph against Barangay Ginebra on Sunday night.

"Even Tony who's sitting next to me right now would have to give a lot of credit to Cliff Hodge," Black said during the post-game press conference, after they seized a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven finals series.

"He did a great job defensively tonight, and if the game had gone another five minutes, I don't know whether he would have finished the game," he added.

Hodge played nearly 38 minutes, grabbing six rebounds and coming up with two steals, a block, and an assist.

He was all over the place defensively, helping limit Ginebra import Justin Brownlee to just 1-of-10 shooting from long range. Hodge's best stretch came late in the third quarter, when he blocked a layup by Christian Standhardinger, only for the Bolts to turn it over. Standhardinger barreled towards the basket, but Hodge put his body on the line to draw an offensive foul against the Filipino-German forward.

That led to a jump shot by Bishop on the other end that gave the Bolts an 81-74 lead. Ginebra did not score in the final five minutes and 21 seconds of the game.

"He just gave everything he had on the basketball court today to try to slow down the Ginebra offense, and that really made a big difference for us," Black said of Hodge.

Hodge is currently putting up 5.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.0 steal per game for the Bolts in the conference.

They return to action on Wednesday for Game 4, with the Bolts looking to build a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. It's a position they were also in the first time that they played Ginebra in the Governors' Cup finals in 2016, but fell victim to a massive fightback from the Gin Kings and lost in heartbreaking fashion.

Hodge is optimistic that they have learned from those mistakes.

"All the focus is on the next game," he said. "We were up 2-1 in the first series, and that's something that will never go away, being up 2-1 and going into the fourth quarter where we could've had a 3-1 lead."

"It clearly changed the series and they won that series, so it's always at the back of your mind," he said.