Allein Maliksi felt exactly at home, returning to his old stomping grounds in a growling fashion.
The veteran gunner provided the early spark before delivering the killing blows in the waning minutes as Meralco fended off Barangay Ginebra, 106-93, in the PBA on Tour at the Quadricentennial Pavilion Arena inside the historic University of Santo Tomas on Wednesday, July 5.
Maliksi waxed hot in the early going, scoring 13 of the Bolts’ first 16 points, to let his team seize control of the contest. He finished with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, apart from seven rebounds and three steals.
The former UST Tiger also delivered key hits to douse a last ditch run from the Kings, who just like in their last three victories, tried to mount a comeback in the final frame.
With Meralco comfortably ahead, 102-84, Barangay Ginebra with its Never-Say-Die attitude still found some fire in its players and struck consecutive baskets to come within 10 with a little over two minutes remaining.
Maliksi, though, came through with a big basket before Cliff Hodge also scored on a layup to stop the bleeding for the Bolts and douse the threats from the Kings.
Bong Quinto also came up huge for Meralco with 23 points as he took turns with Maliksi in carrying the offense for Meralco. Raymond Almazan also finished with a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Von Pessumal led Ginebra with 26 points as he spearheaded a huge third quarter flurry for the Kings that saw them cut the deficit down to single digits.
However, an F1 call on Pessumal due to the landing spot violation when he challenged Maliksi’s three-point attempt took the momentum away from the Kings as they stared to a 15 point disadvantage heading into the fourth.
Meantime, Sean Anthony and NLEX also spoiled the NorthPort team manager Pido Jarencio’s homecoming at UST.
Anthony displayed his veteran poise and took charge in the final frame as NLEX held off a hard fighting NorthPort, 95-87.
Anthony unloaded 10 of his 25 points in the fourth quarters as the Road Warriors shook off the pesky Batang Pier to catch their victims at identical 3-4 records in the standings.
Up only by a solitary point at the onset of the final period, NLEX embarked on a pivotal 15-5 run capped by an and-1 play and a booming top of the key triple from Anthony to reestablish a double-digit spread, 82-71.
