Bolts force deciding Game 7

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MERALCO thrived in a do-or-die duel anew and dragged San Miguel Beer into a deciding game last night.

Battling back from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter, the Bolts pulled off a gutsy 96-92 decision over the Beermen in Game 6 of their best-of-7 semifinals showdown in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A CJ Perez basket gave SMB what appeared to be a safe 90-80 lead with still 4:20 remaining, but Meralco refused to wilt and unleashed a 13-0 blitz capped by an Aaron Black three-point play that pegged a 93-90 count in the last 31.5 seconds.

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After a shot clock violation on the Beermen, Allein Maliksi committed an inbound turnover that led to Bong Quinto fouling Perez, who was attempting a triple.

But Perez could only make two of his three free throws and Black sealed the Bolts’ hard-earned triumph with three freebies in the final 5.7 ticks.

Chris Newsome scattered 19 points, to go with seven rebounds, and three assists for Meralco, while Aaron Black chipped in 17 markers, including his team’s last 11, to go with five boards, and six dimes.Cliff Hodge also had 17 and 12, while Chris Banchero and Raymond Almazan added 13 and 11 points, respectively for the Bolts.

With the win, Meralco redeemed itself from a 78-89 loss in Game 5 three days ago and importantly forged a Game 7 set on Wednesday also at the Big Dome in the race-to-4 series.

With their backs pushed against the ropes, Bolts coach Norman Black lauded his charges for showing grit.

“We just had to keep playing. We always talked about whether it may be the last second of the game that we win, or the last 30 seconds, or the last minute. So, we just didn’t want to get distracted, we just wanted to get focused knowing this was a knockout game for us,” Norman Black said.

“We kept getting close. . . making a little bit of a run and we looked pretty decent like we already steadied the ship but then San Miguel is a tough team, probably the most talented team in the league,” he added.

Keen on putting the Bolts away, SMB raced to a fast start and took a 42-26 spread on Mo Tautuaa’s two charities at the 8:46 mark of the second canto.

Meralco trimmed the lead to 45-56 at the half and even inched closer 71-74 heading into the final stanza.

June Mar Fajardo carried the fight for the Beermen with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Vic Manuel added 16 markers and seven caroms.

Marcio Lassiter and Perez also contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively, for SMB.

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