MERALCO forged a sudden death for a spot in the PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup Finals after beating Barangay Ginebra, 86-81, on Wednesday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Bong Quinto exploded for 23 points while Allein Maliksi knocked down huge shots in the fourth quarter in Game Six to send the best-of-seven semifinal series into a winner-take-all out-of-town game.
The series now head to the FPJ Arena in San Jose, Batangas in a game to decide which team faces top seed and favorite San Miguel in the championship series.
READ Cone clams up as Ginebra braces for a Game 7 vs Meralco
Meralco got off to a strong 7-0 start, and, unlike in Game Five, kept its composure to protect its lead until the final buzzer.
“I said it’s not over and this is what we want, a Game Seven,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo.
Quinto had 10 points in the fourth quarter including a lay-up that brought Meralco’s lead to 71-64.
Maliksi then took over, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter in a stretch where he scored nine straight points that got the Bolts ahead, 82-74, with two minutes left.
Chris Newsome was also among four players who scored in double figures for Meralco as he had 21 points, 10 coming in the first quarter where the Bolts got their biggest lead, 17-6.
Meralco bounced back from their Game Five defeat where it led by as many as 15 points, only to lose by 89-84, last Sunday.
“The game before (Game Five), I thought we also played well. We had a 15-point lead. We had a couple of breakdowns. But coach Nenad preaches a lot of things and he doesn’t get a lot of recognition with the things he does. I thought we had a good gameplan again today. We were more solid all-around,” said Trillo.
Christian Standhardinger had 19 points and eight rebounds, but was limited to four points on 0-of-6 shooting from the field in the first half.
Japeth Aguilar had 19 points and seven rebounds, while Maverick Ahanmisi had 13 points and nine rebounds in the Ginebra defeat.
The scores:
Meralco 86 – Quinto 23, Newsome 21, Maliksi 14, Hodge 10, Banchero 9, Almazan 7, Bates 2, Caram 0, Jose 0, Pascual 0.
Barangay Ginebra 81 – J. Aguilar 19, Standhardinger 19, Ahanmisi 13, Pringle 12, Thompson 9, Tenorio 3, Pinto 3, Cu 3, Murrell 0, Pessumal 0.
Quarters: 19-18; 38-37; 54-53; 86-81.
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