MANILA, Philippines – Allein Maliksi won’t let a couple of off nights affect his confidence.

Regaining his lethal form, Maliksi took charge for Meralco as they sent erstwhile unbeaten Barangay Ginebra crashing back to earth with a 91-73 blowout in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum on Friday, March 15.

The sweet-shooting veteran fired 25 points on a 4-of-7 clip from beyond the arc to help the Bolts get back on track after a pair of narrow losses and improve to 2-3.

It was a vastly improved performance for Maliksi after he went 6-of-20 (30%) from the field and 1-of-10 (10%) from long range in their last two games against NLEX and NorthPort, which Meralco lost by an average of just 4 points.

“I work hard and I prepare myself every day in practice. There are off nights. Sometimes, you have a good game. Just continue to enjoy the game and play the game the right way,” said Maliksi in a mix of Filipino and English.

“Today, we executed our offense and defense well. We took care of the ball. The result turned out great.”

Maliksi connived with Chris Newsome as they scored 10 and 11 points, respectively, in the first half to help the Bolts race to a commanding 46-27 lead.

The Gin Kings hardly looked like the team that won their first two games convincingly, coughing up 19 turnovers and making just a dreadful 14% (3-of-21) of their three-point attempts.

Meralco capitalized.

After the intermission, Maliksi took over as he scattered 11 points in the third quarter, giving the Bolts their biggest lead of the game at 71-40 off a personal 8-0 run capped by a booming triple.

Newsome backstopped Maliksi with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, while Aaron Black finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Cliff Hodge made his presence felt for Meralco on the defensive end, churning out 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals as he pestered Ginebra forward Jamie Malonzo, who committed 6 turnovers and got limited to a season-low 4 points.

Prior to the game, Malonzo averaged 24.2 points.

As excellent as his team performed, though, Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo acknowledged the absence of injured Gin Kings star Scottie Thompson (back) played a part in the rout.

“We took advantage of those opportunities in front of us,” said Trillo. “It is a bit of both. We played well and I think also we caught them a little bit off.”

Maverick Ahanmisi topscored for Ginebra with 14 points, while Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar recorded 13 points apiece.

The Scores

Meralco 91 – Maliksi 25, Newsome 19, Black 12, Mendoza 8, Banchero 5, Hodge 4, Quinto 4, Pasaol 4, Almazan 3, Caram 2, Rios 2, Pascual 2, Dario 1, Torres 0.

Barangay Ginebra 73 – Ahanmisi 14, Standhardinger 13, J. Aguilar 13, David 8, Onwubere 6, Malonzo 4, Tenorio 3, Pessumal 3, Gumaru 2, R. Aguilar 2, Pringle 2, Pinto 1, Cu 0.

Quarters: 23-14, 46-27, 76-52, 91-73.

– Rappler.com