Beermen fall to Bolts in Tiaong

Allein Maliksi fired 21 points and led a balanced Meralco attack that San Miguel Beer just couldn’t match as the Bolts defeated the Beermen, 92-89, in PBA On Tour’s visit at the Tiaong Convention here Saturday night.

Maliksi went 7-of-16 from the field, including five three-point conversions off the bench, with three other Bolts also piling up double-digit output as the Bolts roared to a second straight win and raised their overall mark to 3-1in this pre-season series presented by Arena Plus and sponsored by Bingo Plus.

The Beermen, meanwhile, dropped to 2-3 with Terrence Romeo (averaging more than 20 points in their previous games) joining other SMB stars on the sidelines.

With a deeper bench for this particular tiff, the Bolts showed up the Beermen as they dominated the boards, 56-48, and pummeled their depleted rivals, 32-8, on bench points.

Maliksi led the Meralco bench mob, with Raymond Almazan, Bong Quinto, Anjo Caram, Alvin Pasaol and Cliff Hodge forming the lead group.

Quinto scored 19 points, Almazan tallied double-double numbers with 14 points and the same number of rebounds while Caram kept his steady presence at the point, putting in 11 markers and seven assists.

And there were their reserves who put in help, including Jansen Rios who foiled Allyn Bulanadi’s shot in the last five seconds to preserve the 92-89 count.

The scores:

Meralco 92 – Maliksi 21, Quinto 19, Almazan 14, Caram 11, Pascual 8, Pasaol 5, Rios 4, Johnson 3, Jose 3, Hodge 2, Torres 2.

San Miguel 89 – Cruz 19, Lee 18, Bulanadi 18, Brondial 14, Tautuaa 12, Saldua 6, Lazarte 2, Baclao 0, Faundo 0.

Quarterscores: 25-24, 47-46, 69-73, 92-89.