By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Meralco Bolts refused to play their last game of the PBA bubble after outlasting the Ginebra San Miguel, 83-80, in a tightly-contested Game 4 of the semifinals to force a winner-takes-all Game 5.
The ageless Reynel Hugnatan continued to be Mr. Reliable for the Bolts as his consistent scoring kept them in the game including scoring the go-ahead jumpshot that gave them the lead during the last minute of the ball game, 81-80.
In an attempt to catch Meralco’s defense off-guard, coach Tim Cone decided to run a quick backdoor play for Stanley Pringle but Raymond Almazan’s presence underneath bothered his attempt and eventually swatted the lay-in.
Chris Newsome then sealed the game with a breakaway layup right after the Almazan rejection that put Meralco’s hopes in punching a ticket to the finals alive.
Meralco held the lead up to the third but coach Tim Cone’s adjustments allowed Ginebra to gain ground and turn it into a slugfest as Japeth Aguilar was able to man-handle the Bolts’ paint defenders and helped his squad climb back into the ball game.
Newsome was then able to connect on some timely baskets to stem Ginebra’s run in the last three minutes of the final frame including a series of difficult fadeaway jumpers and highlight layups.
Meralco’s core of Hugnatan, Newsome, and Cliff Hodge finished the ball game with 19, 16, and 16 respectively while Stanley Pringle and veteran Jared Dillinger led Ginebra with 18 and 15 respectively.
