MERALCO stayed alive in chase of a first-ever PBA Philippine Cup Finals as the Bolts foiled the Bangay Ginebra Kings' first shot at a clincher on a gritty 86-81 win Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Bong Quinto, fielded as a starter for the first time in a long while, responded with a game-high 23 points while Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi put in their usual numbers as the Bolts sent the Kings to a deciding Game Seven in San Jose, Batangas on Friday.
Newsome and Maliksi combined for 35 points, including all of the Bolts' last 15 markers, as Meralco lived to fight another game, extending the waiting hours for first finals qualifier San Miguel Beer.
In a must-win game, the Bolts put up an aggressive stand offensively and defensively, beating the Bolts heavily on fastbreak, 18-1, and on points off turnovers, 24-9.
Still, coach Luigi Trillo's chargers had to overcome the Kings in a grind-out battle before prevailing and forging a 3-3 all in the race-to-four series.
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A big help was Maliksi stringing up nine straight points in the crunch then Newsome taking over to close it out for the Bolts with crucial free throws.
Newsome finished with 21 points on top of four rebounds and three assists while Maliksi, sliding down as sub to Quinto, fired away 14 markers going with six rebounds, two assists and one block.
Maliksi's lone block was on Scottie Thompson after his nine-point binge that made it 82-74 with time down to 2:04.
Cliff Hodge was also there in the battle coming through with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists as Chris Banchero (nine points, nine rebounds and eight assists) and Raymond Almazan (seven markers and 11 rebounds) also struck for the Bolts.
Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar scored 19 points each while Stanley Pringle tossed in 12 for the losing side.(SB)
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