May 20 ------ ALLEIN Maliksi and Chris Newsome came to the rescue as Meralco averted a meltdown and pulled off a 103-91 win over Barangay Ginebra to tie their PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup semifinal series at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Maliksi finished with 25 points, while Newsome had 20 markers as they nailed important baskets to help the Bolts regain control of the contest after leading by as many as 17 points. Meralco spoiled the career night of Christian Standhardinger, who finished with 41 points, as the Bolts tied the series at 1-1. Game 3 heads to the Dasmarinas Arena in Cavite with both teams gunning for the lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Bolts bounced back after a 92-88 defeat in Game One that ended a five-game winning streak. “I think Game One is more important than Game Two. But if we lose, then you are down two,” said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo. “It’s just one game. We made it now just a best-of-five. We know that Ginebra is going to be back,” said Trillo. “I think we really need to do some things defensively and offensively. I think we are more aligned today but there is still a lot of things to improve on.”
Meralco led 60-43 early in the third but the quarter also saw a major uprising by Ginebra, which outscored its opponent, 32-18, in the period to grab a 74-73 lead. The Bolts reclaimed the lead with a 16-7 blast that started with back-to-back baskets from Maliksi and Newsome, and ended with Newsome scoring a putback after three offensive rebounds for a 95-87 gap. “That’s part of what we talk about in practice, having that poise,” said Newsome. “Whenever it comes to closing out games, this is the PBA and we are a competitive basketball league so no lead is safe. You definitely can’t let your guard down at any point in time during the game.”
Cliff Hodge also added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Chris Banchero chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds for Meralco. Standhardinger had 28 points in the second half but had little support from his teammates. The Gin Kings got into a big hole after they shot just 35 percent in the first half. Maverick Ahanmisi had 14 points but only made four of his 18 shots, as Game One hero Stanley Pringle was limited to 13 points.
The scores:
Meralco 103 – Maliksi 25, Newsome 20, Hodge 13, Banchero 11, Quinto 7, Almazan 7, Mendoza 6, Bates 6, Pascual 5, Caram 3, Rios 0, Torres 0.
Barangay Ginebra 91 – Standhardinger 41, Ahanmisi 14, Pringle 13, J. Aguilar 7, Thompson 6, Cu 6, Onwubere 3, Tenorio 1, Murrell 0, Pinto 0, David 0.
Quarters: 32-27; 55-42; 73-74; 103-91.
Source: spin.ph
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