Black leads late charge as Meralco forces do-or-die vs SMB

Aaron Black led the Meralco Bolts' charge late in the game to force a rubber match against the San Miguel Beermen following a 96-92 victory in Game 6 of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup semis on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

SMB led by as many as 16 points, 56-40, before the two-minute mark of the second quarter before the first half ended in their favor, 56-45. However, the Bolts turned things around as they outscored SMB in the third period to cut their deficit to just three at the end of the frame, 74-71.

The Bolts tied the game at 74 early in the fourth period before the Beermen recovered and again led by as much as 10, 90-80 with 4:23 left.

The Bolts had to scramble as they made their own 10-0 run to tie the game, with Black and Cliff Hodge contributing five points each.

Black completed a three-point play to give the Bolts a 93-90 lead.

An Allein Maliksi foul on CJ Perez from beyond the arc put the latter at the stripe and sank two freebies to cut their deficit to just a single point.

Black then got a split from the charity stripe off a Chris Ross foul, but he redeemed his miss as he completed two more free throws to eke out the crucial win.

Overall, Black tallied 11 of his 17 points in the Bolts' fourth quarter charge.

Newsome had 19 points and seven rebounds, while Cliff Hodge registered a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Banchero and Raymond Almazan had 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Junemar Fajardo listed 23 markers and 13 rebounds, while Vic Manuel had 16 points. Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez chipped in 14 and 13 points each in the loss.

Game 7 of the semis series is on Wednesday.

The scores:

Meralco 96 – Newsome 19, Black 17, Hodge 17, Banchero 13, Almazan 11, Maliksi 7, Pascual 6, Quinto 6, Hugnatan 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0

SMB 92 – Fajardo 23, Manuel 16, Lassiter 14, Perez 13, Tautuaa 8, Cruz 8, Enciso 8, Brondial 2, Ross 0, Herndon 0

Quarters: 33-22, 56-45, 74-71, 96-92

—JMB, GMA News