Meralco Bolts leaned on Chris Newsome's steadying presence to withstand Blackwater and notch its first victory of the season with a 105-96 win last 15 October in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Newsome scored 10 of his 22 points inside the last 8:21 of the game that restored order in the Bolts camp after the Bossing came fighting back from as much as a 24-point deficit to threaten within 81-84.
With the rest of Meralco's crew chipping in, it managed to build up its lead back to 14 points and a safe 105-94 spread going to the last 29 seconds before ultimately racking up the breakthrough win following a 0-2 start to the season.
"Today we were up big but we managed to win the game. It was a bit of composure," said Meralco coach Luigi Trillo, whose team squandered as much as a 16-point lead against Rain or Shine and ultimately dropped a 96-95 decision just last Saturday.
"Credit to these guys, they attacked the mismatch," added Trillo, specifically citing Newsome, Bong Quinto, Allein Maliksi and Cliff Hodge, who repeatedly punctured holes in Blackwater's defense to net them as much as a 65-41 bulge.
Newsome wound up with 22 points with Hodge adding 14 points and eight rebounds with Maliksi coming off the bench for 13 points, highlighted by a buzzer-beating triple that gave Meralco an 84-74 lead heading to the final frame.
Also playing key were Raymond Almazan's 12 markers and eight rebounds and Aaron Black's 11 points, six boards and two assists.
Foiled was Blackwater's bid to follow up its 107-87 opening win against Terrafirma last Friday, as well as Sedrick Barefield's season debut that saw him score 34 points anchored on seven triples. But he was saddled by four fouls near the halfway point of the third.
Diminutive RK Ilagan had 22 points and Abu Tratter 11, but Christian David and Dalph Panopio struggled in the face of the Bolts' defense and failed to reprise their impressive initial performances.
David missed his first three shots and wound up with just seven points while Panopio was worse off, flubbing his first seven attempts from the field and tallied only two points.
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