The Meralco Bolts leaned on clutch shooting by Chris Newsome to carve out a 109-104 overtime victory over the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok, yesterday, Tuesday, October 29, 2020 at the Angeles University Foundation Sports Arena & Cultural Center Powered by Smart 5G.
Meralco won a battle of attrition. The Bolts dictated the pace of the match and sucked Magnolia into a slow, grind-it-out, half-court type of a game. The Bolts forced the Hotshots to miss at crunch time to carve out the win.
The two teams traded baskets in a see-saw battle for the lead in overtime.
Newsome drained a triple followed by two free throws by Cliff Hodge as Meralco hiked its advantage to four points, 104-100 with a minute left to play in extra time.
Jackson Corpuz cut the gap to two, 104-102, but Newsome himself extended that lead back to three, 105-102, on a charity split. Marc Barroca then kissed the ball off the glass to cut the Meralco lead to just a point, 105-104, with 48 seconds in overtime.
Newsome, with Marc Barroca right in his face, elevated to convert a jumper to push Meralco to a three-point, 107-104, lead with nine seconds left to play. Raymond Almazan finalized the count on free throws.
Newsome finished with 23 points and 7 rebounds to win Player of the Game honors.
The Bolts (2 wins, 2 losses) thus bounced back from a 91-105 shellacking they endured against Barangay Ginebra last Sunday Oct. 18.
Leading the standings are unbeaten teams TNT Tropang Giga (4-0), Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (3-0) and Ginebra (3-0).
The other teams include the Blackwater Elite (2-1), the Super LPG (2-1), the San Miguel Beermen (2-2), the Alaska Aces (1-2), the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok (1-3), the Terrafirma Dyip (0-3), the NorthPort Batang Pier (0-3) and the NLEX Road Warriors (0-3).
Trevis Jackson, displaying composure earned from given playing time by coach Norman Black, drilled a wide open jumper to cut the Meralco advantage, 88-90 with a little over a minute to play in the game.
Jackson then did it the hard way the second time, creating space from Jio Jalalon with some fancy then drilling the three-pointer to push Meralco ahead, 91-90, with a minute to go in the game.
Newsome leaned on his length and athleticism to block a Paul Lee attempt at the other end. Newsome then converted two free throws at the other end to hike the Meralco advantage to three, 93-90, with 21 seconds to go in the game.
Marc Barroca cut the gap to a point, 93-92, on free throws with 16 seconds left.
Jackson pushed the Bolts ahead by two points, 94-92, with a charity split.
Paul Lee tied the count with his own free throws, 94-all with 13 seconds left to play. Newsome missed the jumper at the buzzer which sent the game into overtime.
The Hotshots led at the start. Jio Jalalon converted a floating jump shot to push his team to a 25-19 advantage after the first quarter.
The Bolts managed to grab the initiative briefly in the second. Raymond Almazan made two-of-two free throws to push Meralco to a two-point, 46-44, advantage. Jackson Corpuz made a layup with 2 seconds left to tie the count, 46-all at halftime.
The Hotshots again grabbed the initiative in the third. Paul Lee missed a triple attempt from the right corner and missed. Marc Barroca swooped in for the offensive then banked the ball off the board to extend the Magnolia advantage to six points, 73-67, after the third quarter.
Aaron Black, left wide open camping at the three-point line, received a pass from Trevis Jackson and drilled the three-pointer to tie the count at 79-all with 7 minutes left in the game.
Lee pushed the Hotshots ahead by two, 98-96, but Aaron Black grabbed back the lead for the Bolts as he drained a three-pointer to push Meralco back up by one, 99-98, with three minutes to go in extra time.
The scores:
Meralco Bolts 109 – Chris Newsome 23, Aaron Black 16, Cliff Hodge 12, Reynel Hugnatan 11, Trevis Jackson 10, Allein Maliksi 8, Bong Quinto 8, Raymond Almazan 8, Jammer Jamito 8, Nard Pinto 4, Baser Amer 1
Magnolia Hotshots 104 – Paul Lee 32, Marc Barroca 17, Chris Banchero 13, Jio Jalalon 13, Jackson Corpuz 12, Justin Melton 6, Kyle Pascual 4, Rafi Reavis 4, Aris Dionisio 3.
Quarter scores: 19-25, 46-46, 67-73, 94-94, OT 109-104.