Allein Maliksi and Aaron Black came through in the clutch as Meralco pulled the rug from under top seed San Miguel Beer, 89-86, to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, July 17.
Maliksi, after struggling from beyond the arc all game long, delivered two huge triples in the last two minutes before Black delivered the killer blow with 50 seconds left as the Bolts secured their sixth win in 10 games, much to the delight of the Bolts faithfuls in the good-sized crowd at the Big Dome.
Maliksi unloaded 10 of 18 points in the final frame on a 4-of-14 clip from beyond the arc while Black contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Chris Newsome provided the steady presence with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Cliff Hodge only added nine points but hauled down 11 boards including the crucial rebound that led to Maliksi’s second triple which gave the Bolts a 85-83 lead with 1:21 to go.
Meralco stand-in coach Luigi Trillo was the least surprised that Maliksi drilled the crucial triples after struggling from the rainbow territory early on.
“I was telling them before the game, Allein, Chris Banchero, Bong (Quinto) we have guys who we believe in and you’re looking at the quality of shots, the shots were good. As long as we’re doing the right thing on offense we’re in the proper spots and the decision making is good, it will fall for Allein,” said Trillo
“Credit to the guys setting him up. Newsome is setting him up, Aaron Black is setting him up. Cliff tons of screens for him also Raymond (Almazan), again, collective effort from the team and nice to see Allein hit those big shots. We know he can do that for us,” he added.
June Mar Fajardo posted his seventh double-double in the conference with 21 points and 12 rebounds but were still not enough to carry the depleted Beermen who were without head coach Leo Austria, assistant coach Jorge Gallent, Jericho Cruz and Robbie Herndon due to the health and safety protocols.
CJ Perez provided support with 14 points while Marcio Lassiter added 12.
SMB actually had the chance to send the game to an extra period in its final possession but Simon Enciso came up short in his last second three-point attempt. The loss, however, hardly affected the Beermen as they remained atop the standings with a league-best 9-2 record.