Meralco Bolts squandered double-digit leads and needed a five-minute extension before coming through with a tight 132-129 win over the Converge FiberXers on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The win was marred by a near free-for-all incident when Meralco’s Allein Maliksi took exception to the hard foul given by Converge’s Barkley Ebona in the dying seconds.
Maliksi first canned a three-pointer that gave the Bolts a 130-128 lead with 34 seconds left.
Following an empty possession by Converge, Ebona fouled Maliksi hard in a desperate attempt to stop the clock.
Maliksi, however, lost his cool and grabbed Ebona by the neck.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, preventing the incident which happened with only six seconds left from escalating.
Maliksi was assessed with a flagrant foul penalty (FFP) 2 that warranted an automatic ejection, while Ebona was slapped with an FFP 1.
Anjo Caram dropped two free throws, Jeron Teng split his own two gift shots that pegged the final tally.
KJ McDaniels piled up 33 points, Aaron Black scored 28 for the Bolts, who climbed to 6-4 (win-loss).
Jamaal Franklin erupted for 57 markers but fouled out in the closing minutes as the FiberXers fell to 6-4.
The loss spoiled Danny Ildefonso’s first game after coming out from retirement.
Playing again after retiring in 2015, Ildefonso saw action for four minutes and tallied one rebound.
THE SCORES
MERALCO (132) – McDaniels 33, Black 28, Hodge 18, Almazan 16, Quinto 12, Maliksi 12, Newsome 11, Caram 2, Banchero 0, Jose 0.
CONVERGE (129) – Franklin 57, Ahanmisi 24, Racal 14, Stockton 9, Tratter 7, Balanza 6, Tolomia 5, Arana 4, Teng 3, Ildefonso 0, Ebona 0.
QUARTERSCORES: 30-22, 62-55, 83-92, 121-121, 132-129.
