MERALCO took one giant step closer to its first-ever PBA title by outlasting San Miguel, 92-88, in Game Five of the Philippine Cup Season 48 Finals on Friday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts relied on a huge game from Allein Maliksi to create separation in a low-scoring grindout match before Chris Newsome delivered key buckets in the fourth quarter to give the Bolts a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Meralco can wrap up a maiden PBA championship since joining the pro league in 2010 with a Game Six win on Sunday at the Big Dome.
The Bolts nearly squandered a 10-point lead but free throw misses came back to haunt SMB again. With the Beermen down by three, CJ Perez could only make a free throw in the final 7.2-second mark of the match.
Meralco's win put to naught another monster performance by June Mar Fajardo, who tallied 38 points and 18 rebounds but got little help from teammates. Perez had 17 points and 10 rebounds but was an atrocious 1-of-11 from two-point range.
Newsome calmly sank two free throws with 6.2 seconds left to settle the final score, capping a 22-point performance that came two days after his career-high 40 points weren't enough to give Meralco a win in Game Four.
Maliksi finished with 22 points after averaging a shade over eight points a game in the three matches prior to Game Five.
Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said there is still nothing to celebrate.
“Today, it was a little bit of a struggle. It could have gone other way. We just have to move forward the next game,” said Trillo.
“In all honestly, San Miguel really played well the last game,” said Trillo, referring to SMB’s 111-101 win in Game Four. “So we needed to adjust some things. They played brave today.”
Newsome and Maliksi combined for 29 points in the second half, lifting Meralco to a 90-80 lead on a basket by Maliksi for a 90-80 lead. That was the biggest gap in the match-up after a seesaw battle in the first three quarters.
Raymond Almazan also came up big with 14 points and four rebounds, while Chris Banchero added 12 points.
The scores:
Meralco 92 – Newsome 22, Maliksi 22, Almazan 14, Banchero 12, Quinto 8, Hodge 6, Bates 6, Caram 2, Torres 0, Pascual 0.
San Miguel 88 – Fajardo 38, Perez 17, Romeo 6, Lassiter 6, Cruz 6, Trollano 5, Tautuaa 5, Ross 3, Manuel 2.
Quarters: 24-25; 47-46; 69-70; 92-88.
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.
