Maliksi’s clutch buckets help Blackwater upset No. 1 Bolts

Delfin Dioquino

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Maliksi’s clutch buckets help Blackwater upset No. 1 Bolts

Josh Albelda

8th seed Blackwater completes the upset 92-91 win over top seed Meralco

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Allein Maliksi came up big down the stretch to power the eighth seed Blackwater Elite in upsetting the No. 1 Meralco Bolts, 92-91, in the first day of the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals at the Mall of Asia Arena Tuesday, September 26.

With Elite were trailing by one with under a minute left in the game, Maliksi buried a jumper off a fastbreak to give his team a 90-89 lead with 33.6 seconds remaining.

Allen Durham scored a putback to put Meralco back on top, 91-90, before Maliksi drilled in another jumper which proved to be the difference for the embattled Elite.

With 9 seconds remaining, Meralco still had enough time to score a go-ahead bucket but the Elite defense forced Mike Tolomia to an awkward shot from near freethrow line.

“All is not finshed here. We still have a game to win on Thursday and for sure, Meralco will be prepared,” said Elite coach Leo Isaac. “I would like to commend my players for fighting that good Meralco team toe to toe and hopefully we would have enough firepower heading into that Thursday game.”

Henry Walker, who singlehandedly carried the Elite by scoring all of the team’s first 18 points in the fourth quarter, finished with 30 points, 18 rebounds and 6 assists. 

Maliksi added 15 boards and 4 boards while Michael Digregorio fired 20 markers on top of 4 rebounds and 3 assists. 

With the win, Blackwater became the ninth team in PBA history to force a knockout game. 

Allen Durham almost had a triple-double performance after scoring 18 points, hauling down 21 boards and dishing off 7 assists but it was not enough for Meralco which suffered its first loss after winning four straight. 

The Bolts will try not to squander their twice-to-beat advantage as they face the Elite again on Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum. 

The Scores

Blackwater (92): Walker 30, Digregorio 20, Maliksi 15, Sumang 9, Erram 7, Marcelo 4, Sena 4, Canaleta 3, Belo 0, Cruz 0, Pinto 0

Meralco (91): Newsome 19, Durham 18, Hodge 18, Dillinger 12, Tolomia 11, Amer 8, Hugnatan 5, De Ocampo 0, Lanete 0

Quarter scores: 24-17, 42-40, 63-62, 92-91 

Rappler.com

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Delfin Dioquino

Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.