Meralco drew first blood in its best-of-three quarterfinal duel against NLEX in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup on Friday, May 10.
In the battle between two reliable stars in Allein Maliksi and Robert Bolick, the former got the last laugh.
Despite Bolick’s fiery 48-point performance, Maliksi and Meralco overhauled a double-digit deficit and edged NLEX, 97-93, to draw first blood in their best-of-three quarterfinal showdown in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Friday, May 10.
Maliksi fired 22 points, canning four of the Bolts’ last six free throws to seal the win.
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“Nothing special naman. I give credit to each and everyone of us,” said Maliksi.
“It was a total team effort. We really wanted this win.”
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It was indeed a total team effort, with five others finishing in double figures for Meralco.
Raymond Almazan put up 15 points, Anjo Caram shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point area for 14 points while Chris Newsome and Chris Banchero had 12 points apiece.
Bong Quinto added 11 points for the Bolts, who were down 44-54 at the break as they could find no answer to Bolick who had already churned out 28 points.
Bolick, who is leading the Best Player of the Conference race at the end of the elimination round, tried to will NLEX back in the final stretch.
The shifty guard scored five straight points inside the last 3:11, including the tough floater against Cliff Hodge that gave the Road Warriors a 93-92 edge with over a minute left on the clock.
But the Bolts would go on to make five of their last six shots from the free throw line to frustrate Bolick and the Road Warriors.
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