MERALCO RESTORES POWER, ENDS SLUMP

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco restored power to its drive to the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup with a clutch 82-76 victory over Phoenix yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Aaron Black, Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi presided over a highly-charged second-half assault that cleared the way for the Bolts’ fourth win in nine games that lifted them into the Magic 8.

Back on track after a two-game slide, Luigi Trillo’s troops moved two places up to eighth spot, dislodging idle NorthPort (4-6) in the cutoff line. The Fuel Masters fell to 3-7, their playoffs hopes thinning.

As extra bonus, the Bolts scored payback against Phoenix, which gave them the boot in the Last-8 of the previous Commissioner’s Cup via a close 88-84 verdict in a hard-fought rubber match.

“We talked about that as added motivation before the game. Just understanding na sila ang nagtanggal sa amin last conference. That always hurts and you bring that into a game like this – do-or-die – we really wanted to take all the motivation we could get,” said Black, who topscored with 18 spiked by four triples.

“Our number one priority of course was to keep our hopes alive for the playoffs.”

Black fired eight in the third to back up Newsome’s nine in a 26-15 salvo that gave Meralco a 60-53 upperhand. Maliksi picked it up in the fourth and drilled in nine to keep the Bolts ahead.

Newsome shot 15 but his exit due to an apparent knee injury with 19.4 seconds left put a dampener to the Meralco celebration.

Maliksi, who was scoreless last game, bounced back with 13 while Chris Banchero chipped in 14.

With Maliksi gunning down two from beyond the arc, the Bolts seized a 75-64 cushion going to the last 4:30.

RR Garcia and Ken Tuffin ignited a late rally and sent Phoenix to within 79-76 but Meralco held tough and wrapped it up with Bong Quinto’s three-of-four stint from the free throw line in the last 17.2 ticks.

2024-04-26T16:35:00Z dg43tfdfdgfd