Allen Durham and Baser Amer executed perfect plays in the crunch, and Meralco pulled off an escape act, squeezing through, 85-83, Friday night to force a tie after four games of the PBA Governors Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Durham and Amer drained big shots, and the Bolts watched the Kings muff critical shots of their own to win the well-fought contest before a raucous crowd of over 16,000.
The two teams break the 2-2 logjam in the best-of-seven series in Game Five Sunday over at the Philippine Arena.
"We've got a series. It's good for the basketball program of Meralco and it's good for the series," said Meralco coach Norman Black.
"It's a great game and we just came up short. We're playing a tough team and they've done a good job on pinpointing our weaknesses. But we're very much okay going to Game Five," said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
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Durham and Amer made the big shots to highlight their big games, with Chris Newsome and Reynel Hugnatan having their essential help as the Bolts scored a follow-up on their 94-81 win in Game Three.
Meanwhile, Justin Brownlee went 0-of-3 from the field in the last 40 seconds, thus, sending down the drain his near triple-double performance with 34 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.
"Our execution down the stretch was very good except for a layup that Jared Dillinger missed. We ran our plays smoothly. It's always beautiful if it works; it's not if it doesn't," said Black.
Durham converted an under-goal shot off a perfect dish by Hugnatan for the winning basket with 42 ticks to go.
The Kings could've still salvaged the game but Sol Mercado and Brownlee muffed a three-point shot each. Brownlee later also missed a 10-footer and a follow-up in the dying seconds.
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Earlier, the Bolts ran a play where Durham set up Amer for a trey.
Amer, held scoreless in Game Three, capped a solid 11-point outing with that triple that pushed Meralco ahead at 83-81 with 1:16 to go.
Ginebra, however, was still able to tie the game for the last time at 83 on two free throws by Brownlee off Hugnatan nine seconds later.
Durham, who paced himself in the first half before working hard in the second half, finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds.
Newsome came up with 18 markers and 11 boards while Hugnatan contributed 14 markers, seven boards and four assists.
Riding the momentum of their Game Three win, the Bolts set the pace most of the first half and threatened to pull away early.
But with Ginebra down by eight at 28-36, Brownlee led a crucial attack that shoved the Kings ahead at 40-38.
Brownlee's 3-of-3 three-pointers highlighted the flurry, and the Ginebra fans responded with their rhythmic chants.
Newsome, however, knocked in a trey of his own with 17 ticks to go, and the Bolts took a one-point edge, 41-40, at halftime.
Then the Bolts picked up the pace at the resumption of play, building couples of double-digit spreads before ending the third at 68-63.
Limited to six points in the first half, Durham scattered 12 points on top of seven rebounds in the third.
