Meralco warms up in second half, beats Geneva to tie semifinal series at 1-1 – Manila Bulletin

Meralco had an energy surge in the second half to surprise Barangay Ginebra San Miguel 95-77 and draw 1-1 in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series on Friday night at the Centro Cultural y Deportivo de the University Foundation of Angeles.

The Bolts counted on Allein Maliksi, Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan and Baser Amer in the second half to not only erase a 50-42 deficit at halftime, but also to produce an uneven victory that made up for their 96-79 loss at the first game of the series two nights ago.

Bong Quinto, Cliff Hodge and Reynel Hugnatan were consistent throughout as the Bolts denied the Kings a 2-0 lead in the third game of their scheduled best-of-five adventure Sunday night.

“We just talked about the fact that we can’t go 0-2 because we won’t have any chance to come back in the series, so this game is really very important to us,” Meralco coach Norman Black said.

“We found out in Game 1 exactly what we were up against. Offensively and defensively, we made some adjustments to try to beat this team and the players executed very, very well. The teamwork was there and we have a more balanced score than in Game 1 ”, he added.

Six Meralco players scored in double figures with Newsome and Maliksi leading the way with 16 and 14 points after finding their rhythm in the second half.

Newsome and Maliksi combined for 14 points in the third as Meralco did not give up after Geneva opened the fourth with five consecutive points to lead 55-42. The Bolts would overtake the Kings 23-6 to enter the quarter ahead 65-61.

Almazán imposed his inside presence on both ends while Amer shot two critical triples that allowed Meralco to lead 77-67 and 82-67 midway through the final tie.

Almazan had 11 points and 11 rebounds in a performance that Black described as his best this season, while Amer added 10 points.

Quinto had 14 points and six rebounds, Hodge 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Hugnatan had nine points, nine rebounds and five assists as they redeemed their struggles in Game 1.

Japeth Aguilar had 17 points and eight rebounds, while LA Tenorio had 16 points on four 3-pointers, but was scoreless in the second half.

But a key aspect in Geneva’s loss was Stanley Pringle, who was limited to just nine points on 4-of-16 shots.

Scores:

MERALCO 95 – Newsome 16, Quinto 14, Maliksi 14, Hodge 12, Almazan 11, Amer 10, Hugnatan 9, Pinto 3, Black 2, Caram 2, Jamito 2, Faundo 0, Jose 0, Salva 0.

GENEVA 77 – Aguilar 17, Tenorio 16, Thompson 10, Tolentino 9, Pringle 9, Caperal 6, Salado 4, Mariano 4, Caguioa 2, Dela Cruz 0, Dillinger 0, Devance 0, Balanza 0

Quarters: 23-27, 42-50, 65-61, 95-77.