Allein Maliksi came up with clutch triples as Meralco Bolts scored an 89-86 victory over San Miguel Beermen in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Trailing 79-82 with over three minutes left, Maliksi connected a triple to tie the score at 82-all before knocking down another outside shot to surge the Bolts ahead at 85-83.
Aaron Black widened Meralco’s lead to 88-83 with another trey with under a minute left. Jaymar Perez trimmed the deficit for SMB at 86-88 but could not send the game into overtime.
Maliksi finished the game with 18 points, including four outside conversions, while Chris Newsome and Black added 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Bolts (6-4).
June Mar Fajardo ended with double-double 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Perez, Marcio Lassiter and Simon Enciso added 14, 12 and 11, respectively, as the Beermen dropped to 9-2.
