DASMARIÑAS CITY – Meralco took control of its PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinals series against Barangay Ginebra with an 87-80 win in Game Three on Wednesday at the Dasmariñas City Arena.
Allein Maliksi and Chris Newsome led the Meralco offense and the Bolts silenced Ginebra’s guns in a game that left the predominantly pro-Gin Kings crowd disappointed in the city’s first-ever PBA playdate.
The Bolts have now won two in a row to grab a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinal series.
READ Yeng Guiao confronts Terrence Romeo over garbage-time trey
Save for a late charge by Barangay Ginebra in the final minutes, Meralco was in total control. The Bolts were already up, 31-18, in the first quarter behind Maliksi’s 11 points and Newsome's eight in the same period.
Ginebra was so outplayed all game that it only tasted the lead with it scored the first two points of the game.
Meralco coach Luigi Trillo, however, hopes there won’t be a repeat of that late comeback bid by Ginebra.
“The last five minutes, we shouldn’t do that,” said Trillo. “Even if it was some of our other guys in the game, we were just floating. We weren’t communicating. We can’t have that.”
“First three quarters at least, we were a little bit sound. I think we can still improve on a lot of things. We gave them a couple of offensive rebounds at the start. There were a couple of looks. But over the course of the game, we know we have to do that again in the next game,” he added.
Maliksi had 16 points and shot 3-of-6 from three-point land while Newsome tallied 14 points including a dunk that stopped a mini-run by Ginebra after the Bolts had opened a 59-42 lead - the biggest of the contest.
Japeth Aguilar had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Maverick Ahanmisi added 13 points but the two scorers got little support.
After scoring 41 points in Game Two, Christian Standhardinger was limited to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
Scottie Thompson had eight points but shot just 2-of-13 from the field.
The scores:
Meralco 87 – Maliksi 16, Newsome 14, Quinto 10, Banchero 9, Hodge 9, Almazan 8, Caram 6, Bates 6, Torres 3, Dario 2, Rios 2, Pascual 2, Mendoza 0, Pasaol 0.
Barangay Ginebra 80 – J. Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Standhardinger 10, Tenorio 9, Thompson 8, Pinto 6, Cu 5, Pessumal 5, Pringle 4, Onwubere 3, R. Aguilar 2, Murrell 0.
Quarters: 31-18; 48-34; 72-59; 87-80.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
