NO power shut-off for Meralco and no shutout for San Miguel Beer.
The Bolts sustained a high-voltage performance through three games and foiled the Beermen's sweep bid with a 95-92 victory that carried Meralco to an outright playoffs entry in the PBA Philippine Cup.
A good Saturday crowd at the Batangas City Coliseum stood as witness as the Bolts scored the reversal versus the Beermen and in the process claimed a ticket to the quarters with a 6-5 win-loss closing mark in the elims.
Coach Luigi Trillo and his chargers were the fifth team to enter the Last Eight after San Miguel Beer (10-1), Barangay Ginebra (7-3), Magnolia (6-4) and Rain or Shine (6-5), leaving TNT (5-5), NLEX (5-5), Terrafirma (5-6) and NorthPort (5-6) to dispute the three remaining spots in the post-elims play.
Even minus the injury-hit Aaron Black (ACL tear), the Bolts capped their elims stint with a third straight win gained at the expense the Beermen who were denied of a 11-0 sweep.
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Coach Jorge Gallent and his Beermen suffered their first loss since their Commissioner's Cup title run with import Bennie Boatwright.
From 16 points down at the start of the fourth quarter, the Beermen chipped away and chipped away, coming to within two, 84-86, with over five minutes left to play.
The Bolts, however, withstood the Beermen's challenge at crunch time, salvaging the three-point victory and the closing card that could be good for a spot in the best-of-three quarters matchups between No. 3 versus No. 6 and No. 4 opposite No. 5.
The Beermen actually had their chance to send the game into overtime up to the closing seconds, but CJ Perez misfired a trey at the buzzer.
Cliff Hodge enjoyed one of his better games, coming through with 20 points and 13 rebounds in their big win.
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Allein Maliksi fired 19 points, including clutch hits at the finish, as Chris Newsome (17), Bong Quinto (12) and Chris Banchero (10) contributed double-digit outputs.
June Mar Fajardo led the SMB stand with 23 points and 19 rebounds as Jericho Cruz and Don Trollano put in 14 apiece.
Cruz sparked their fourth-quarter charge with timely hits from afar. He finished with a 4-of-5 three-pointers.(SB)
The Scores:
MERALCO 95 - Hodge 20, Maliksi 19, Newsome 17, Quinto 12, Banchero 10, Caram 6, Almazan 6, Bates 5, Pascual 0, Dario 0, Pasaol 0, Torres 0.
SAN MIGUEL92 - Fajardo 23, Cruz 14, Trollano 14, Lassiter 9, Perez 8, Romeo 8, Enciso 6, Tautuaa 4, Brondial 4, Manuel 2, Teng 0, Ross 0.
QUARTERS: 27-20, 52-44, 82-66, 95-92
