IT’S Meralco vs. Ginebra IV for the PBA Governors’ Cup crown.
Allein Maliksi returned to form just in time as Meralco defeated top-seed Magnolia, 94-81, on Friday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum to arrange another finals face-off against nemesis Barangay Ginebra.
Maliksi scored 24 points on 6-of-8 shooting from threes for the Bolts, who also got a boost from Raymond Almazan and Aaron Black in a highly physical battle against a Hotshots side that was left without an import in the endgame.
The victory enabled Meralco to go back to the finals against a familiar foe in Barangay Ginebra. The Bolts, however, have yet to win in the past three finals appearances in the Governors' Cup against the Gin Kings.
Game One is on Wednesday.
It was a stunning end to the conference for Magnolia, which was ousted even after taking the No. 1 position at the end of the elimination round and took an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Magnolia import Mike Harris missed the final minutes of Game Five after a hard fall in the fourth. Doctors had to attend to Harris in the Big Dome hallway where he sat on a wheelchair and had to use an oxygen tank to aid his breathing.
He was later stretchered out of the Big Dome and taken to a hospital for check-ups.
Despite grabbing 11 rebounds, Harris only had five points in the knockout game.
Despite the offensive explosion of the team, Meralco coach Norman Black credited the team’s defense for the victory.
“We just continued to play good defense. Our offense wasn’t really clicking today. We didn’t made many shots in the first half. I think they shot a much-better percentage than we did in the first half. We talked about it. If we were going to the finals, we have to rely on our defense. That’s basically what we did,” said Black.
“After a while, our shots started to fall a little bit,” said Black.
Almazan was a perfect 9-of-9 from the field, most of the baskets coming in the third quarter, to finish with 18 points, while Black added 16 points to atone for a measly eight-point production of import Tony Bishop.
Chris Newsome also joined the fray, scoring 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter to help Meralco seal the victory.
Maliksi had nine points in the fourth while converting 9 of his 13 shots from the field in the game to will his team to victory after the Bolts trailed, 65-62, at the end of the third.
Meralco opened the fourth with a 9-0 run that included a triple by Maliksi to increase the lead to 71-65 and never looked back.
On to Ginebra
“It’s on to Ginebra now, again,” said Black.
The Bolts won despite the struggles of their import Tony Bishop, who only had eight points in the contest. Meralco also missed Chris Banchero in the game.
Calvin Abueva had 21 points and seven rebounds in a losing effort for Magnolia, which lost three of its final four games in the conference. Paul Lee had 13 points.
The scores:
Meralco 94 – Maliksi 24, Almazan 18, Newsome 17, Black 16, Bishop 8, Caram 4, Quinto 4, Hodge 3, Belo 0, Canete 0, Hugnatan 0, Pasaol 0, Baclao 0.
Magnolia 81 – Abueva 21, Lee 13, Jalalon 11, Barroca 11, Sangalang 10, Dela Rosa 6, Harris 5, Wong 2, Corpuz 1, Reavis 1, Brill 0, Ahanmisi 0, De Leon 0, Dionisio 0, Escoto 0.
Quarters: 23-29; 41-46; 62-65; 94-81.
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