MERALCO escaped with a 95-92 win against a late-charging San Miguel side and became the fifth team to clinch a quarterfinal berth in the PBA Philippine Cup Saturday night at the Batangas City Coliseum.
The Bolts led by as many as 17 points late in the third period but needed to survive a furious San Miguel rally to hack out the win and deny the Beermen an 11-game sweep of the eliminations.
CJ Perez missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final two seconds that allowed the Bolts to finish with a 6-5 record and join the Beermen, Barangay Ginebra, Rain or Shine, and Magnolia in the next round.
Cliff Hodge came through with a huge double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds, Allein Maliksi added 19, and Chris Newsome 17 as the Bolts won three in a row heading to the playoffs.
Despite the loss, San Miguel still emerged as the no. 1 seeded team with a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs.
The 10-1 Beermen though, missed on just becoming the fifth team in PBA history to sweep an entire elimination phase.
The setback also spoiled another splendid night for seven-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, who had 23 points, 19 rebounds, and four assists. The 6-foot-10 center, however, committed six of the team’s 11 turnovers.
Meralco appeared headed for an easy win after leading by as many as 82-65 with 1:12 remaining in the third period.
But the Beermen crawled their way back behind Fajardo, Don Trollano, and CJ Perez to threaten the Bolts entering the homestretch.
They were within 95-92 when Perez uncharacteristically missed two free throws with 37 seconds left to play.
San Miguel had one final chance to forge overtime only for Perez to brick out his three-point attempt in the team’s final play.
The scores
Meralco (95) – Hodge 20, Maliksi 19, Newsome 17, Quinto 12, Banchero 10, Caram 6, Almazan 6, Bates 5, Pascual 0, Dario 0, Pasaol 0, Torres 0.
San Miguel (92) – Fajardo 23, Cruz 14, Trollano 14, Lassiter 9, Perez 8, Romeo 8, Enciso 6, Tautuaa 4, Brondial 4, Manuel 2, Teng 0, Ross 0.
Quarterscores: 27-20; 52-44; 82-66; 95-92.
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