Chris Newsome knocked down a go-ahead basket as the Meralco Bolts pulled off a 91-89 escape over the Converge FiberXers in the PBA Philippine Cup on Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
With the score tied at 89-all, Newsome eluded three FiberXers’ defenders before pulling up for a two-point jumper from the free throw area to give the Bolts a 91-89 lead with less than a second left in the match.
Newsome finished with 15 points, with 13 coming in the second half, to go with six rebounds and four assists as the Bolts opened their title-retention bid with a close victory.
“For us, it is always about the team, about what we can do for the better of the team,” Newsome said. “I think we struggled in the first half, but you can see the character of the team; we just come together and fix this thing.”
Kier John Quinto added 14 markers, Raymond Almazan had a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Aaron Black and Raymar Jose tallied 10 apiece for Meralco, which went down by as many as 20 points in the first half.
“We just had to grind it out,” said Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo in a post-game interview. “I think we do not have a good first half. We give credit to Converge; they played a great game.”
Justin Arana finished with 23 points, Alec Stockton added 17 markers, while Justine Baltazar and Deschon Winston contributed 14 and 13 markers, respectively, for the FiberXers.
The post Chris Newsome drills game-winner as Meralco escapes Converge first appeared on Fastbreak.
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