Allein Maliksi. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Allein Maliksi starred in Meralco’s bounce-back win over Blackwater on Saturday.
Maliksi was on fire, torching the Bossing with a game-high 30 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field including 6-of-10 from downtown.
The former University of Santo Tomas standout, though, deflected the credit to his teammates for helping him come alive in the second half after a quiet first two quarters.
“In the second half, I give credit to all my teammates because they were finding me and I was hitting the open shots. We lost last game so we worked hard this week coming to this game. We need to bounce back, that was our mentality,” Maliksi, who fired 28 points in the second half, said.
The 35-year-old Maliksi gave special mention to Anjo Caram, who just returned from a foot injury and gave the Bolts a big lift with 18 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
“I give credit to the second group, like Anjo (Caram) because he worked hard to come back. He came back and gave the second group energy. That’s where we pulled away,” said the 6-foot-4 swingman.
Maliksi’s hot shooting helped Meralco rebound from a 96-88 loss to Terrafirma last January 28.