Meralco has finally cracked the puzzle that the rest of the 10 teams had struggled to solve all eliminations long.

Behind the stifling defense and explosive transition offense, the Bolts built a sizeable lead before averting collapse down the stretch to hand San Miguel its first defeat, 95-92, in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup at the Batangas City Coliseum on Saturday, May 4.

Chris Newsome, Cliff Hodge and Allein Maliksi all delivered timely hits to withstand a huge fourth quarter storm for SMB to power Meralco to the much-needed win that ended their elimination record at 6-5.

Not only that the win allowed Meralco to barge into the quarterfinals in a rousing fashion but it also put itself in a good position in the quarterfinals after getting assured of at least a Top 6 finish.

The Bolts also a spoiled the Beermen's attempt at completing an 11-0 sweep of the eliminations – a feat that has only been done by four teams in league history.

The Bolts threw everything, even the kitchen sink, to the Beermen, limiting CJ Perez to a single-digit production while making June Mar Fajardo bleed for every point against the twin-tower combinations of Raymond Almazan and Cliff Hodge, and Norbert Torres and Brandon Bates.

Through that ploy, Meralco built a lead as big as 16 points, 82-66, heading into the final frame. 

As expected though, no lead was safe against the Beermen, who came back within two, 84-86, before Newsome, Hodge and Maliksi went on a 7-2 run to restore order.

SMB still threatened and came within three, 92-95 with the Beermen holding on to the final possession. 

Basketball Gods seemed to have also conspired with Meralco as Raymond Almazan inadvertently kicked the ball during Fajardo’s fly-by move, foiling a three-point attempt that could have sent the contest to overtime.

SMB had another chance but the ball went to Perez who back rimmed the potential game-tying trey.

Hodge emerged as the unlikely topscorer for Meralco with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Maliksi added 19 points while Newsome chipped in 17 points.

Despite being doubled for the majority of the contest, Fajardo still posted 23 points and 19 rebounds while Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz added 14 points apiece. 

The missing links however were Perez, who was averaging 22.6 points but could only muster eight points, and Marcio Lassiter, who averaged close to four triples per game, but couldn't eve drain a single one in the loss.