CHRIS Newsome went out early on fouls but his Meralco teammates played on and fought on, beating out Rain or Shine, 121-117, in extra period in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday night.
Picking the pieces of their 96-93 upset loss to Blackwater on Wednesday, the Bolts actually led by as many as 14 but had to fend off the Elasto Painters' endgame siege.
There's the side-stepping three-pointer from Norbert Torres that stopped the momentum of Rain or Shine's run in the fourth quarter.
There's the Bong Quinto overtime show.
There's Allein Maliksi's 26-point sizzler.
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And there's Cliff Hodge's usual gritty stand on defense and on board work.
Putting their effort together, the Bolts overcame the Elasto Painters' challenge in the crunch as Meralco got to the win-column while keeping Rain or Shine winless in two starts.
On Wednesday, the Elasto Painters bungled early control of the match in a 108-107 nipping by the TNT Tropang Giga.
Against the Bolts, the E-Painters put themselves in a position for a steal after fighting back from 55-69 down.
They took possession with 22 seconds to go and the count tied at 102.
They went to Andrei Caracut for the game-winning attempt in the final seconds. The former La Salle Archer did find an open lane to the basket but missed a layup, and thus the game went into extra five minutes.
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In OT, the Bolts seized early control on a 7-0 binge from Quinto.
And there's no stopping the Bolts from clinching the win, thus preserving the heroics of Quinto, Torres, Maliksi and Hodge.
Maliksi top scored for the Bolts with 26 points including three treys while Quinto, Torres and Hodge finished with 16 points apiece.
Newsome also wound up with 16 though fouling out early. He also came through with 11 rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes of action.
Going down the drain for Rain or Shine was the 54-point combined output from Adrian Nocum (29) and Santi Santillan (25).
Gian Mamuyac scored all of his 15-point production in the second half, helping fuel ROS' endgame charge.
Also right there in the battle was Beau Belga with nine points and the same number of rebounds.
But they went down on their overtime foldup. (SB)
The Scores:
MERALCO 121 - Maliksi 26, Newsome 16, Quinto 16, Torres 16, Hodge 16, Caram 13, Black 6, Pascual 5, Mendoza 4, Rios 2, Pasaol 1, Banchero 0, Jose 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 117 - Nocum 29, Santillan 25, Mamuyac 15, Belga 9, Datu 9, Clarito 9, Caracut 8, Norwood 6, Belo 3, Borboran 2, Demusis 2, Ildefonso 0.
QUARTERS: 28-20, 49-42, 80-77, 102-102, 121-117
