Black lights up for Meralco
Meralco put a new lease of life to its flickering quarterfinals bid after surviving a scare from Phoenix, 82-76, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Bong Quinto knocked down his only three points of the ball game from the free throw line with under 20 seconds left to ensure the Bolts will have their two-game slump snapped and move up to eighth spot with a 4-5 winloss record.
“It’s hard to knock down a team like Phoenix,” Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said.
“They were sharp today the way they played. They had several games this week, three games, more games. They’re sharp while we’re coming off two-weeks break so we’re kinda feeling that first game.”
However, Meralco paid a steep price for the hard-earned win following an injury scare on Chris Newsome in the last 19 seconds after hurting his left knee that got entangled with
Fuel Masters forward Javee Mocon.
Newsome finished with 15 points on sixof-15 shooting while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists for the Bolts.
“New felt something so we have to have that checked first. Obviously, a letdown. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious but he said he felt something,” Trillo said of his prolific scorer and go to guy.
Aaron Black led all scorers with 18 points, Chris Banchero added 14 while Allein Maliksi made up for his scoreless outing the last time out with 13 points for Meralco.
The Bolts had a serious scare when the Fuel Masters made a late run in the fourth quarter, trimming down their once imposing 11-point lead to just 77-74 after Javee Mocon’s strong drive to the basket with 42.6 seconds left.
Banchero answered with a jumper before Ken Tuffin drilled a long jumper that only counted as a two-pointer after the review showed he stepped on the line for a 79-76 count with 19.4 ticks left.
Quinto, who was zero-of-8 from the field, split his first two foul shots before making two more after the Fuel Masters came out emptyhanded in their last possession to seal the deal.
Phoenix’s defense picked up in the second quarter when it limited Meralco to just 10 points to head into halftime with a 38-34 lead after trailing by three at the end of the opening period.
The Fuel Masters dropped their second straight game to go down with a 3-7 record that put them on the brink of an early vacation.
Tuffin had 14 points and Kent Salado added 12 as the only Phoenix players in double figures.