Allein Maliksi and Nard Pinto provided the spark in crunch time to lift Blackwater to a 104-98 overtime victory over TNT KaTropa in its debut in the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.
Maliksi and Pinto combined for 13 of the Elite’s 16 points in the extension as their successive scoring lifted Blackwater for their first win in the season-ending conference.
With the two’s scoring, Blackwater carved a 97-90 lead with under two minutes left to take the game away.
Maliksi scored a game-high 28 points while Henry Walker added 23.
Blackwater, riding high on its conquest of the 50th Pacific Caesar Pro Basketball Tournament in Indonesia last month, dropped TNT KaTropa to a 1-2 record which paraded new import Stacy Davis, who scored a team-high 23 points.
The teams ended up at 86-apiece at the end of regulation after Walker’s dunk with 37 ticks left in the fourth evened the count at 86.
Jayson Castro and Walker both missed jumpers in the dying seconds, sending the game to overtime.
Blackwater opened the game up like a house on fire, unleashing a 13-2 spurt right off the gates to gain control early.
However, TNT immediately answered to get itself right back into it and trim its deficit to only three, 18-21, at the end of one.
The game was already knotted at 38-all at the half and it was tight the rest of the way.
The Elite missed the services of starting center Poy Erram, who is still in Indonesia serving the National team.
As of press time, Meralco (1-1) is welcoming debuting Alaska in their own duel.
