MERALCO continued to be a nightmare for Platinum Karaoke as the Bolts dashed the top-seeded team's finals bid in Leg 4 of the PBA 3x3 tournament.
Tonino Gonzaga finished with seven points, Dexter Maiquez with six, while Joseph Sedurifa and Alfred Batino combined for eight as the Bolts scored a 21-13 win over Platinum in their semifinal match at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig to advance to the winner-take-all final.
The Bolts also beat Platinum during the Leg 2 final.
Purefoods TJ Titans made short work of TNT Tropang Giga in the other semis pairing, 21-11, to take the second finals berth and meet Meralco in the winner-take-all finals,
This will be the third time Meralco will be in the championship round, while the Titans are in their first finals appearance.
Paolo Javelona and the Titans reach in their first PBA 3x3 final.
It was another heartbreaker of a loss for Platinum, which was unbeaten in five games going to its rematch against Meralco.
It earlier topped the pool play by sweeping all of its four games in Pool A to remain as the only undefeated team heading to the playoffs.
Semis 1
Meralco (21) – Gonzaga 7, Maiquez 6, Sedurifa 5, Batino 3.
Platinum (13) – Dehesa 4, Alabanza 4, Monteclaro 3, De Chavez 2.
Semis 2
Purefoods (21) - Eriobu 8, Javelona 5, Mendoza 4, Bonsubre 4.
TNT (11) - Gozum 5, De Leon 3, Vosotros 3, Flores 0.