By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Allein Maliksi came alive offensively in the fourth quarter as the Meralco Bolts pulled off an 86-81 victory over the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 6 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night, May 29.
With the Bolts protecting a 73-68 lead with over four minutes left, Maliksi converted a three-point play, drilled four free throws and another inside hit to stretch the lead to 82-74.
The Gin Kings countered with a split free throw and a three-pointer from Maverick Ahanmisi to cut the deficit to 78-82, but the Bolts kept them at bay with two free throws from Chris Newsome for an 84-78 lead.
Barangay Ginebra threatened anew at 81-84 after a long three-pointer from Stanley Pringle, but Newsome secured the victory for Meralco as he knocked down two free throws.
Kier John Quinto finished with a conference-high of 23 points, including three three-point conversions, as the Bolts forced a do-or-die Game 7 after tying the best-of-seven series at 3-3.
Newsome battled foul trouble to end up with 21 markers, with three outside connections, while Maliksi and Clifford Hodge ended with 14 and 10 markers for the Bolts.
Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo said that, after several seasons of semifinals heartbreaks, he is hoping that they can finally reach the championship round of the Philippine Cup this time.
“Sana kami naman. It’s good for the league,” Trillo said.
“We have a lot of respect for Ginebra and what they do. We have been to many semifinals, so we have to focus on this last game. We have a good game plan today, we played a solid game,” he said.
“Actually, the game before this, we also played a good game. We were up by as much as 15 points, but we had breakdowns,” he added.
Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger finished with 19 points apiece, while Ahanmisi and Pringle contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Gin Kings./ASC, WDJ
MERALCO 86 — Quinto 23, Newsome 21, Maliksi 14, Hodge 10, Banchero 9, Almazan 7, Bates 2, Pascual 0, Caram 0, Jose 0.
GINEBRA 81 — J. Aguilar 19, Standhardinger 19, Ahanmisi 13, Pringle 12, Thompson 9, Tenorio 3, Pinto 3, Cu 3, Murrell 0, Pessumal 0.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 38-37, 54-53, 86-81.