Meralco avoided being swept by way of a 108-104 escape at the hands of Ginebra Friday evening to send their PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal series to a rubber match at a packed Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Bolts nearly lost a decade’s worth of a lead when the Kings knocked within the aforementioned scoreline with 34.9 seconds to go, and anxiety only grew further when they committed a 24-second shot clock violation afterward.
But an overcooked four-point attempt by RJ Abarrientos with 6.2 ticks left to play was all that they needed to get away with the all-important victory.
Not only did they end a five-game losing skid against the Barangay but Meralco has also given itself a chance to complete the comeback in the best-of-3 tiff in the win-or-go-home Game 3 on Sunday, February 9, at the Ynares Center.
“I thought we did a good job with that,” said head coach Luigi Trillo as he liked the poise shown by his charges despite the intense battle.
“Whatever way we got it, whatever it took to get this win, we did that. But we haven’t done anything. We have to focus on one more game to get it done.”
Chris Newsome spear-headed the Bolts’ attack with 24 points and five assists. Cliff Hodge supplied 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and six rebounds.
Seasoned forward Jansen Rios was the surprise spark for the crew as he delivered 15 points off the bench, spiked by a 2-of-3 clip from the first arc, on the way to earning his first Player of the Game citation.
Bong Quinto made 14 points while Akil Mitchell finished with a triple-double as he tallied 13 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists against seven turnovers.
Leading Ginebra, meanwhile, was Justin Brownlee with a game-high 36 points on a 14-of-30 clip from the field and six rebounds in the loss.
Scottie Thompson had 21 points and nine rebounds, while Abarrientos and Japeth Aguilar added 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
Jamie Malonzo had nine points as the young winger played in the venue for the first time since suffering a calf injury in April of last year.
The Scores:
Meralco 108 – Newsome 24, Hodge 17, Rios 15, Quinto 14, Mitchell 13, Banchero 13, Black 8, Almazan 2, Cansino 2, Bates 0, Pascual 0, Caram 0.
Ginebra 103 – Brownlee 36, Thompson 21, Abarrientos 12, J.Aguilar 10, Rosario 9, Malonzo 9, Ahanmisi 2.
Quarterscores: 26-25, 58-53, 85-81, 108-104.
