MERALCO survived a huge scoring explosion by Robert Bolick to hack out a 97-93 comeback over NLEX in the opener of their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals series on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Steady free throw shooting inside the final 45 seconds by Allein Maliksi and Chris Newsome clinched the Game 1 victory for the Bolts, who watched as Bolick torched them for a career-best 48 big points.
Bolick, who was 18-of-19 from the free throw line and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc, missed his final three-point attempt with five seconds remaining as the Road Warriors now teeter on the brink of eliminations.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is set Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Meralco coach Luigi Trillo took his hat off to Bolick, but also made no effort to hide his disappointment over the way the Bolts played in the first half where they trailed by as many as 12. Bolick already had 28 at the break.
“We’re not pleased with the way we played that first half. If we’re going to play like that again, we’re not going to pass and enter the semifinals,” he said. “So for us, we still need to improve a lot.”
Maliksi topscored for the Bolts with 22 points on a perfect 7-of-7 stint from the free throw line, including four of the team’s last six points from the same area.
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Big man Raymond Almazan added 15 and six rebounds, while Anjo Caram went a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to finish with 14 points while starting in place of the injured Aaron Black.
Bolick, a frontrunner in the race for the Best Player of the Conference award, added four rebounds and five assists for NLEX, which only had big man Mike Miranda as the other player in double figures with 14 points on 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range.
The scores:
Meralco (97) - Maliksi 22, Almazan 15, Caram 14, Newsome 12, Banchero 12, Quinto 11, Bates 4, Torres 3, Hodge 2, Pasaol 2, Dario 0.
NLEX (93) - Bolick 48, Miranda 14, Rodger 6, Herndon 6, Nieto 5, Semerad 5, Fajardo 4, Marcelo 2, Valdez 2, Amer 1, Anthony 0.
Quarterscores: 23-28; 44-54; 73-75; 97-93.
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