Meralco seizes 2-1 series lead vs. Ginebra despite endgame lapses

Endgame collapse practically price Meralco the sport, however the Bolts hung robust to hack out an 87-80 Game 3 win towards Barangay Ginebra within the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals on Wednesday on the Dasmariñas Arena.

Enjoying a 17-point lead after a Raymond Almazan layup midway via the fourth interval, the Bolts all of a sudden turned lax because the Gin Kings staged a comeback surge led by LA Tenorio, Nards Pinto, and Von Pessumal. 

Ginebra, who drew first blood within the sequence earlier than succumbing to Meralco in Game 2, unleashed an enormous 14-2 rampage with Tenorio burying a triple over Alvin Pasaol earlier than his steal led to a straightforward layup for Pinto as they trimmed the deficit to simply 5 with 24.8 seconds left, 85-80.

Pasaol then went broad on his two freebies, permitting Ginebra to additional slice the hole however Tenorio and David Murrell missed out their triple and putback makes an attempt, respectively. 

“Those last five minutes, we shouldn’t do that. We’re up already [but] we were just floating, we weren’t communicating. We can’t have that,” Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo stated. 

“But the first three quarters, at least, it’s a little bit sound. I think we can still improve on a lot of things.”

Allein Maliksi picked up the place he left off, pouring in a team-high of 16 factors to observe up on his 25-point outing the final time whereas Chris Newsome and Bong Quinto starred with 14 and 10 markers apiece as they improved to 2-1 within the best-of-seven semis affair.

Several Ginebra stars suffered an offensive drought with Christian Standhardinger and Scottie Thompson being restricted to simply 10 and eight factors every, however Japeth Aguilar and Maverick Ahanmisi carried the load by dropping 15 and 13 markers, respectively. 

Meralco will eye to seize a commanding 3-1 lead come Game 4 on Sunday. 

Scores:

Meralco 87 – Maliksi 16, Newsome 14, Quinto 10, Banchero 9, Hodge 9, Almazan 8, Caram 6, Bates 6, Torres 3, Pascual 2, Rios 2, Dario 2, Mendoza 0, Pasaol 0.

Ginebra 80 – J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Standhardinger 10, Tenorio 9, Thompson 8, Pinto 6, Cu 5, Pessumal 5, Pringle 4, Onwubere 3, R.Aguilar 2, Murrell 0.

Quarters: 31-18, 48-34, 72-59, 87-80.

—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News