CHRIS Newsome still sees Meralco barging into the quarterfinals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup no matter how small the window has become.
“As far as the playoffs go, we’ll see if we can get in,” he said after the Bolts went down with their fifth straight loss on Friday night. “We got a tough one coming on Wednesday.”
By that Newsome meant facing the rising San Miguel Beermen at the end of the eliminations in a must-win situation.
The Bolts would have not been faced with such a tall order had they managed to get past the NorthPort Batang Pier, but unfortunately failed to get the job done, suffering a 93-92 loss.
Newsome had a chance to win it for Meralco in the endgame, but missed on an undergoal reversed shot at the buzzer.
“I was actually just on the fly. The play wasn’t actually for me, so I just had to make and do what I had. Unfortunately, I missed it,” said the Fil-Am guard from Ateneo with shrugged.
The setback dropped the Bolts to a tie for 10th to 11th places with Columbian Dyip with 3-7 records. They hope both San Miguel (4-5) and Alaska (4-6) lose their remaining games to forge a logjam for the seventh and eighth playoff spots.
Newsome, who led Meralco with 21 points and six rebounds, admitted the losing streak, which had the Bolts bringing in three different imports, really affected the team’s campaign.
“It’s been a long conference for us. Just trying to get over the hump, sometimes it’s hard to break on that wall whenever you keep losing,” he said.
The losses however, shouldn’t be an excuse for Meralco not to keep on playing, especially with the season-ending Governors Cup on the horizon.
“We just have to keep fighting, keep our heads up, keep supporting one another, and I just try to keep that attitude in the locker room and our practices just keep getting better everyday,” said the former Rookie of the Year.
“If we’re not going to the playoffs, we’ll be looking forward to the next conference already, we’re looking forward to a fresh start if it comes to that.”
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