Alvin Pasaol and Allein Maliksi formed a deadly one-two punch to power Meralco to a 78-50 victory over Libya’s Al Arabi and put a winning end to its campaign in the Doha Basketball Invitational at the Al Gharafa Sports Club late Saturday, Sept. 30.
With the imports given limited minutes by head coach Luigi Trillo and active consultant Nenad Vucinic, the locals stepped up and carried the cudgels with Pasaol and Maliksi taking turns in the romp that allowed the Bolts to avoid going home winless in their Middle East trip.
A strong second quarter set the tone for the convincing win as Meralco established a double-digit spread it managed to protect to finish the tournament with a 1-4 record. Maliksi showed the way with 18 points built on five triples while Pasaol provided support with 16. Diego Dario and Chris Banchero added eight apiece as imports Ferron Hunt and Uros Lukovic both saw less than 10 minutes of action on the floor in the team’s final game.
Meralco made sure to not fall to the same traps of its loss to Al Arabi, 90-82, in their group stage encounter, unloading a blistering 16-4 run that turned a 29-30 disadvantage into a 45-34 lead at the break. The Bolts never looked back from there as the Libyans didn’t anymore show resistance in the ensuing quarter as they also played without their top players in Kendall Dykes and Jylan Washington who exploded for 41 and 27 points, respectively, in their first game.
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