Allein Maliksi took over in the final minutes as Meralco clipped Barangay GInebra, 86-81, to send their PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup semifinals to a deciding Game 7, Wednesday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The veteran gunner fired 14 points, including nine of the Bolts’ last 13 points to keep the Kings at arm’s length to extend their campaign to at least one more game eventually – and give themselves a chance to rewrite history.
The franchise hasn’t won in a best-of-seven series (0-6) and they could change that narrative in the rubber match on Friday in San Jose, Batangas.
“Sana kami naman,” said coach Luigi Trillo. “It’s good for the league. I think we’ve earned it. We have a lot of respect for Ginebra and what they do. We know it’s going to be hard. We have to just focus on that last game.”
Maliksi’s big endgame helped save the efforts of Chris Newsome and Bong Quinto, who finished with game-highs of 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Those two were key in the fourth quarter, with Quinto nailing a big corner trey off a Cliff Hodge touch pass to push their lead to 69-61 with 7:36 to go.
Then came Newsome, helping keep the opposition at bay together with Maliksi before nailing a pair of free throws with 5.4 seconds left to seal the deal after their rivals got to within three, 84-81, behind Stanley Pringle.
Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger, meanwhile, had 19 points apiece and combined for 15 rebounds in the loss.
Maverick Ahanmisi made 13 points, while Pringle had 12 as the other guards stepped up again on a night Scottie Thompson couldn’t regain his touch.
The 2022 MVP shot just 3-of-12 from the floor, including an 0-for-6 clip from deep, but had nine points and 12 rebounds together with four assists.
The Scores:
Meralco 86 – Quinto 23, Newsome 21, Maliksi 14, Hodge 10, Banchero 9, Almazan 7, Bates 2, Pascual 0, Caram 0, Jose 0.
Ginebra 81 – J.Aguilar 19, Standhardinger 19, Ahanmisi 13, Pringle 12, Thompson 9, Tenorio 3, Pinto 3, Cu 3, Murrell 0, Pessumal 0.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 38-37, 54-53, 86-81.
