MERALCO overcame an offensive outage late in regulation to hack out a 103-100 overtime victory over TNT KaTropa on Wednesday night and force a deciding game in their PBA quarterfinal series.
The Bolts wasted an early 19-point lead after going scoreless in the last six minutes of regulation and the first two minutes of the extra session, before finally regaining their touch.
Baser Amer fired a career-high 32 points, including two on a bank shot that stopped the bleeding in overtime, before Kelly Nabong brought the Bolts home in the absence of Alex Stepheson, who fouled out with a little less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Final Scoreboard Result:
MERALCO 103 - Amer 32, Hodge 15, Nabong 15, Newsome 12, Dillinger 12, Stepheson 7, Hugnatan 7, Uyloan 3, Yeo 0.
TNT 100 - Smith 18, Williams 16, Garcia 14, Castro 12, Semerad 10, Pogoy 9, Rosario 7, Reyes 5, Rosales 5, Tautuaa 4.
Quarterscores: 32-13, 49-44, 79-73, 92-92, 103-100.