Newsome sinks game-sealing fade away as Meralco beats Magnolia in OT

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

The first-ever overtime grudge match in the PBA bubble was as thrilling as it could get.

After trailing by as much as 10 points, the Meralco Bolts found their spark late to turn things around and complete their comeback against the Magnolia Hotshots, 109-104.

The stunning win spoiled Paul Lee’s terrific performance who converted six of his 10 attempts from downtown to finish the game with a game-high 32 points.

Meralco’s head coach Norman Black tried to find the right mix inside the court and just drew the perfect card after finding what he needed in Trevis Jackson.

Known to be a defensive-guard, Jackson showed flashes of what he can do offensively after knocking down back-to-back treys to quickly erase Magnolia’s 5-point lead with 1:50 left in the final frame.

Jackson’s two three-pointers put Meralco back ahead 91-90 with 53 seconds left but both teams missed crucial free-throws only to see themselves battle for another five minutes of extra regulation.

Chris Newsome was excellent in overtime and played hero-ball for the Bolts after burying a triple with 2:10 left and sent the Hotshots home with his difficult fadeaway jumper in the right baseline to put them ahead 107-104 and proved to be the exclamation point.

Magnolia will try to get out of their slump and will seek for a much-needed victory after absorbing back-to-back losses.