Bolts zap Beermen, inches closer to first PBA crown

Meralco averted a late scare from San Miguel Beer to clinch a 92-88 win in Game 5 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday evening.

The Bolts now hold a 3-2 lead and can win it all on Father's Day, 16 June, for its first PBA crown in franchise history.

June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to two points, 88-90 with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter.

But Chris Newsome, who scored 22 points for the Bolts, calmly sank his two free throws with 6.2 seconds left to take the lead.

Apart from Newsome, Allein Maliksi also scored 22 points for Meralco while Raymond Almazan scored 14 points.

Fajardo led the Beermen with 38 points and 18 rebounds in a losing effort.