Bolts score emotional victory for Black

Games on Wednesday (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 3 p.m. – Blackwater vs Converge 6 p.m. – Magnolia vs Rain or Shine

Meralco hacked out a gutsy 8986 win over tournament leader San Miguel Beer and booked a ticket to the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Allein Maliksi and Aaron Black, though in mourning, drained big hits in crunch time as the Bolts came up with an emotional victory dedicated to coach Norman Black, whose mother passed away in the United States.

Maliksi finished with 18 points including the go-ahead triple in the last minute before Aaron braved a heartache for his grandmother and put on the finishing touches with a huge trey of his own in the next possession.

The veteran gunner Maliksi fired four triples in all with Aaron unloading 15 markers, seven rebounds and five assists for the Bolts, who climbed to 6-4 and followed the Beermen (9-2), TNT (8-3), Ginebra (63) and Magnolia (6-3) to the playoffs.

Skipper Chris Newsome threw in a 16-5-5 statsline while Cliff Hodge (9) and Raymond Almazan (8) held the fort on the defensive end for the exhausted Meralco, which wrapped up its dreaded schedule against the San Miguel Corp. troika on a bright note.

Later in the night, quarterfinalbound Barangay Ginebra got back on track in coach Tim Cone’s return from his NBA Summer League stint, pummeling NorthPort, 100-93.

Scottie Thompson collected 23 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and three blocks as the Gin Kings improved to 7-3 to assure their place in the best-of-three series. NorthPort slid to 3-7.

“Sometimes you need that little kick in the rear end that will help us in the playoffs. It would have been nice to be in Top Two but the big goal is the process and preparation,” said Cone. The scores: First Game Meralco 89 – Maliksi 18, Newsome 16, Black 15, Hodge 9, Almazan 8, Banchero 7, Jose 6, Quinto 4, Hugnatan 4, Pascual 2, Baclao 0.

San Miguel 86 – Fajardo 21, Perez 14, Lassiter 12, Manuel 12, Enciso 11, Tautuaa 9, Pessumal 5, Zamar 2, Canete 0, Faundo 0. Quarterscores: 19-26, 40-37, 70-67, 89-86 Second Game Ginebra 100 – Thompson 23, Pinto 18, J.Aguilar 14, Tenorio 13, Chan 11, Standhardinger 9, Pringle 8, Mariano 4, Dillinger 0.

Northport 93 – Bolick 29, Malonzo 19, Santos 14, Ferrer 13, Balanza 6, Taha 6, Sumang 4, Calma 2, Dela Cruz 0, Ayaay 0.

Quarterscores: 20-26, 47-42, 80-60, 100-93