Meralco refused to die and went to Chris Newsome at crunch time who delivered big time in a 97-88 overtime win over Ryukyu Golden Kings Wednesday in the EASL Home and Away Season at the Studio City in Macau.
The Bolts appeared headed for another loss when they trailed, 80-76, with 15 seconds left in regulation.
But Newsome converted on an improbable three coming off a timeout and was fouled by Shota Onodera in the process. The Meralco guard hit the bonus free throw to tie the game at 80 with 10 seconds left.
Vic Law failed to score a potential game-winning jump shot with a second left that paved the way for the extra period.
Newsome then scored seven more points in overtime as he connived with Cliff Hodge, Zach Lofton, and Prince Ibeh to outscore the Golden Kings, 17-8, and score the team’s breakthrough win for a 1-2 record in Group B.
Lofton finished with 35 points, Newsome with 27, and Ibeh with 15 and 12 rebounds for Meralco, which avenged its 89-61 loss to Ryukyu during their first meeting in Okinawa, Japan.
Law finished with 27 points and nine rebounds for the Golden Kings, who was without import Allen Durham and Filipino Karl Tamayo.
Ryukyu fell to an even 2-2 record.
The scores
Meralco (97) – Lofton 35, Newsome 27, Ibeh 15, Hodge 6, Almazan 5, Maliksi 5, Dario 2, Banchero 2, Quinto 0, Rios 0, Bates 0, Torres 0,
Ryukyu (88) – Law 27, Imamura 19, Kishimoto 15, Cooley 10, Onodera 9, Tashiro 4, Maki 2, Watanabe 2, Uematsu 0, Arakawa 0, Matsuwaki 0.
Quarterscores: 17-21; 38-37; 57-57; 80-all (reg); 97-88