Phoenix staves off Meralco to grab twice-to-beat bonus in the playoffs

RJ Jazul and Jason Perkins delivered the killer blows as Phoenix staved off Meralco, 93-83, to clinch one of the coveted twice-to-beat incentives in the playoffs in the 2023-’24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

Jazul drilled a booming triple with 1:16 left in the contest that all but doused a huge Bolts rally in the final frame before Jason Perkins put on the icing on the cake with a short stab to help the Fuel Masters grab a solo second with an 8-2 slate.

With the win, Phoenix is now assured of a spot in the Top 4 even if it loses its final game against TNT and teams like Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel Beer and Meralco manage to forge a four-way logjam from the second to the fifth spots.

The Fuel Masters also defeated the Kings and the Beermen in their elimination matchups, giving them a still assured superior quotient in such a worst-case scenario.

Perkins led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds while import Johnathan Williams had 19 points and 15 boards. Tyler Tio finished with 15 while Jazul wound up with 13 points built on three triples.

The huge win, however, didn’t come without a scare against the Bolts who still threatened in the waning minutes after trailing by as many as 14 points midway through the payoff period.

Meralco unleashed a last-ditch 11-2 run to come within five, 83-88, only to get the door slammed on them by Phoenix no thanks to huge misses from Chris Newsome and Shonn Miller and the big triple from Jazul.

The Bolts are now tied with the Kings and the Beermen in the third to fifth spots with identical 7-3 records but are actually the one in danger of missing out in the race for the twice to beat bonus.

SMB and Ginebra holds a winner over the other advantage over Meralco due to their elimination wins against the Bolts thus putting the Luigi Trillo-mentored team in dire need of a victory in its final game against Terrafirma while hoping either San Miguel or Ginebra drop their last assignments.

Miller cooled down after a fiery debut, finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds while Chris Banchero and Chris Newome added 15 and 13 points in the losing effort.