Meralco finally got one against Ginebra, taking a thrilling 106-104 victory to advance to the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup semis, Sunday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Chris Newsome finished with a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists as the Bolts’ main man did what he could to lead his side to their first playoff series win over the Kings after six failed attempts in the past.
His final dime was surely the most important, for it led to the go-ahead triple of Raymond Almazan with exactly a minute left to eventually settle the final count.
“This is something that we’ve been looking forward to, and we’ve been working towards for a long time now. We finally got it,” said Newsome. “It’s nice to have that monkey off our back, and we can finally move forward and enjoy the win.”
The win definitely didn’t come easy for Meralco. It had to weather the furious retaliation by its rivals that saw the latter cut the Bolts’ 21-point third-quarter lead to just one, 104-103, after LA Tenorio’s trey with 1:12 remaining.
Then again, Almazan was there to respond. And Lady Luck favored them the rest of the way, especially when the Kings lost Scottie Thompson as he fouled out with 10.3 seconds to go following a charge on Cliff Hodge.
The crowd darlings could not capitalize on their chances since then, with Stanley Pringle missing the potential game-tying jumper with 2.5 ticks left — a miss that was then hauled down by Hodge as time expired.
“Just super relieved na we got the monkey off our back,” said acting head coach Luigi Trillo. “We knew they would make a run, and we stuck together.”
Aaron Black had 17 points in the win. Allein Maliksi made 12 points, while the trio of Almazan, Bong Quinto, and Alvin Pasaol all chipped in 11 markers.
Now the Bolts set their sights on the semis, where they will face perennial contenders San Miguel in a best-of-seven affair beginning Wednesday.
Ginebra was led by the 26 points of Thompson in the loss that foiled their bid of reaching the Philippine Cup semis for the second time in a row.
Christian Standhardinger had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Japeth Aguilar made 21 points and seven boards, as Tenorio and Pringle added 12 apiece.
The Scores:
Meralco 106 – Newsome 21, Black 17, Hodge 13, Maliksi 12, Quinto 11, Almazan 11, Pasaol 11, Banchero 4, Jose 4, Pascual 2.
Ginebra 104 – Thompson 26, Standhardinger 23, J.Aguilar 21, Pringle 12, Tenorio 12, Pinto 6, Chan 4, Caperal 0, Onwubere 0, Mariano 0.
Quarterscores: 24-18, 55-42, 85-76, 106-104
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