FACING what could have been a 1-3 series hole, Meralco coach Norman Black had two days to plot ways to stop San Miguel Beer. He found the needed adjustments and his charges turned them to game last night.
Thanks to a furious third quarter blitzkrieg, the Bolts ripped the Beermen 111-97 in Game 4 of their best-of-7 semifinals duel in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aaron Black shone for Meralco with 21 points, on top of seven rebounds and seven assists, while shooter Allein Maliksi banged in four three-pointers and chipped in 19 markers and four boards.
Cliff Hodge also had 18 and seven, while Raymond Almazan and Bong Quinto added 17 and 11 points, respectively for the Bolts.
The emphatic win made up for Meralco’s numbing 91-96 loss in Game 3 last Sunday and enabled the Bolts to even the race-to-four battle at 2-2.
Black pointed to his big men stepping up as among the keys in their crucial triumph.
“We just tried to get a win so we can tie the series. We just tried to take advantage of some of the things that we saw in Game 3,” Black said. “We made some adjustments on how to attack their defense because their defense has been pretty good so far in the series.
“It worked out for us. Offensively, we were able to get the ball to our bigs. Our bigs had a lot of confidence tonight. They took their shots and made their shots, especially Raymond (Almazan) and that’s really the key. We saw in Game 3 that they’re leaving our bigs wide open so the bigs aren’t going anywhere. They will be out there on the court,” he added.
The Bolts zoomed to a 20-8 start before SMB charged back and trimmed the deficit to 53-58 at the half.
With Almazan, Maliksi, and Hodge doing most of the damage, Meralco broke the game wide-open in the third quarter and enjoyed an 88-71 bulge heading into the final stanza.
Quinto’s two free throws stretched the Bolts’ difference to as much as 94-72 at the 10:25 mark of the fourth.
Baskets by Quinto, Hodge, and Maliksi kept the Beermen at bay the rest of the way.
The setback put to naught CJ Perez’s 24 points and eight rebounds for SMB, while Marcio Lassiter had 23 markers on four triples.
June Mar Fajardo also got 21 points and 13 caroms for the Beermen.
