Meralco’s team defense slowed down big man Junemar Fajardo in the second half and the Bolts went on to smother the San Miguel Beermen, 111-97, on Wednesday to even up the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals at the Aranate Coliseum.
Aaron Black led four others in double digits with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Bolts equalized their series with the Beermen at 2-all.
Allein Maliksi fired 19 points, including one of his four three-pointers finding its target in the 11:10 mark of the first period, allowing the Bolts to grab a 17-point led at 36-19 on a 6-0 run that he and Black initiated.
Cliff Hodge chipped in 18 points, while Raymond Almazan made 17 for the Bolts, who weathered a late comeback by the Beermen in the second half.
CJ Perez topscored for the Beermen with 24 points, while Marcio Lassiter and Fajardo added 23 and 21 points, respectively.
They managed to stay close at halftime, 53-58, but they struggled in the next two quarters as the Bolts’ defense, led by Almazan, ganged up on the 6’10” Fajardo.
Fajardo was held to just four and six points in the third and fourth periods, respectively.
The Bolts’ big effort to contain Fajardo allowed them to pull away, 85-69, in the final 1:14 of the third off Almazan’s jumper.
“Mahirap bantayan si Junemar. It was a team effort on him,” said Almazan.
Bong Quinto gave Meralco its biggest edge, 94-72, in the remaining 10:25 with his two freebies.
“We saw in Game 3 that they were leaving their bigs wide open. And the bigs are not going anywhere, and they’re gonna be out there in the court. So we made sure that they end up with a lot of confidence when the shots come, and they made those shots,” said Bolts’ coach Norman Black.
The last time the Beermen fell behind from the first to the final quarter was in Game 3 of last season’s Philippine Cup semifinals, when they fell in a 98-115 setback to the TNT Tropang Giga.