ISOLATED on top of the key against former MVP Scottie Thompson of Ginebra, Meralco star Chris Newsome looked at his rival’s eyes–as if daring him to tighten his defense.
Thompson, known as one of the pro league’s top defenders, obliged and moved closer to Newsome but that proved to be too late as the lightning Bolt broke away, drove hard to the basket, and soared for a tough layup off the Kings’ twin towers of Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger.
Meralco humbled Ginebra 103-91 last night in Game 2 of their best-of-7 semifinals duel in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Newsome’s bucket in a display of aerial wizardry made it a 95-87 game with 3:30 to go in the fourth and essentially stymied the Kings’ furious fightback anchored on the career-game of Standhardinger.
Bolts coach Luigi Trillo could not emphasize more their desire to avert what could have been a 0-2 series deficit.
“It’s everything. If you go down 0-2, I think Game 1 is more important than Game 2 but if we lose then we’re down 0-2, right? But it’s just one game. We now made it a best-of-5.
We know Ginebra will be back,” Trillo said. “I think just looking at it we really needed to do some things defensively and offensively and I think we were more aligned today.
“But there are some things that we need to improve on. We know Ginebra will come back, we just must be ready,” he added.
Ginebra downed Meralco 92-88 in the opener of their race-to-4 battle last Friday.
Veteran sniper Allein Maliksi muffed all his three three-point tries but got the job done on jumpers and close-range conversions to show the way for the Bolts with 25 points.
Newsome also did a big share with 20 markers, four rebounds and three assists while Cliff Hodge and Chirs Banchero added 13 and 11, respectively.
The Bolts zoomed to a 55-42 spread at the break and stretched it to as much as 60-43 on a Newsome deuce at the 10:30 mark of the third canto.
The Kings woke up behind Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle, and Maverick Ahanmisi to grab a 74-73 cushion going into the final stanza.
A Standhardinger basket gave Ginebra its last taste of the lead with still 9:25 remaining.
The Kings threatened at 85-86 on a Standhardinger free throw but Meralco center Raymond Almazan answered with five straight points–a booming triple and a jumper that pegged a 91-87 count, 5:38 to go.
Standhardinger paced Ginebra with a new career-best of 41 points, 11 boards, and four dimes, while Ahanmisi had 14 and eight.
Pringle also had 13 markers for the Kings.
