With their backs against the wall and time running out, Meralco Bolts launched a 16-2 run over the last four-plus minutes to stun San Miguel Beermen, 96-92, on Sunday and force a Game 7 in their 2022 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series.
With the Bolts and the Beermen now set to clash one last time for a finals slot on Wednesday, here are three main takeaways from Game 6.
Aaron makes his dad proud
The Bolts were staring at elimination with 4:23 left after a drive by CJ Perez gave the Beermen a 90-80 lead.
That's when Aaron Black told his father -- the Meralco coach -- that he wanted to take over the team's offense.
"I'm happy that he took over the game today," Norman Black said. "He actually told me, 'Give me the ball and set pick and rolls and I'll get it done.' So I'm really happy he was able to back up what he was saying out there on the basketball court.
"The other guys pitched in and played defense down the stretch."
After Cliff Hodge and Chris Newsome combined to bring Meralco to within 85-90, Aaron took charge and scored the Bolts' last 11 points, including a three-point play with 31 seconds left that gave his team a 93-90 lead. It was their first lead of the game.
"It wasn't only me," Aaron Black noted. "It was also the guys who were screening for me. Raymond (Almazan), Cliff, they were screening for me that's why I got open.
"And on defense, we got stops as a team. Our Meralco family has to do things as a team and without them I wouldn't have been able to do that for our team.
"I was really determined because if we didn't win today we go home. Backs against the wall, it wasn't just me. Everybody on the team came ready to play today."
What was going through Norman Black's mind when San Miguel went up by ten late in the game?
"That was around the time that my point guard here told me that he wanted to be put into some pick and rolls and he wanted to attack," he revealed.
"And that's basically what carried us back into the game. 'New' (Newsome) carried us for a while, but that was around the time that Aaron felt he could take his man off the dribble and eh could get to the basket.
"So we made adjustments at that time and it worked out for us because we slowly, gradually got back into the basketball game."
Aaron finished with 17 points, above his conference average of 14.6, as he continues his evolution as a player.
"I'm really proud of Aaron, not just because of tonight but because where he has come as a basketball player," Norman Black. "I think he's improved a lot the last couple of years. His career has been on an upward path the last couple of years."
Beermen blow a chance
San Miguel led for 44 minutes and ten seconds and was in control for most of the game, leading by as many as 16 points in the first half.
They appeared headed for their first Philippine Cup finals appearance in three years. But they allowed the Bolts to hang around and paid dearly for it.
"We felt at halftime we still had a chance to win the game," Norman Black noted. "We were down by 11 but we felt we were right there even though it was a big margin. And we just had to keep playing and keep playing.
"We always talked about the fact that it may be the last second of the game that we win, or the last 30 seconds or the last minute. So we just didn't want to get distracted, we just wanted to stay focused because this was a knockout game for us."
"San Miguel's a tough team," Aaron Black added. "Credit to them. They had us in a hole for most of the game. Just thankful that we were able to come together as a team and come up with the win and live another day."
Every time the Bolts would make a run, the Beermen would pull away again. It was frustrating for the Meralco coach, as he explained: "We kept getting close. We would make a little run and we'd look pretty decent and it looked like we had already steadied the ship.
"But like Aaron said, San Miguel is a tough team. They're the most talented team in the league. They have the best player in June Mar Fajardo.
"So every time we would get close it would seem like they would something and pull away from us. They would hit a couple of big shots and they would pull away, and we'd have to struggle to get back into the game again.
"We were just very fortunate that that last run that we had came at the end of the game."
Winner-take-all
The Bolts have only been in this situation in the Philippine Cup once, in the 2020 bubble.
Their best-of-five semifinal series against eventual champions Barangay Ginebra ended in heartbreak, though, after Scottie Thompson sank a buzzer-beating triple in Game 5.
Norman Black is hoping for a different outcome this time.
"It's a big win for us, not only for this series but for our franchise," he added. "I think we've only been this close to making the finals of the All-Filipino one time before this when we lost to Ginebra at the buzzer, when Scottie Thompson hit a three-point shot.
"Now we have another chance to possible get to the finals of the All Filipino. So it's a big step for our franchise and now we're just going to have to dig a little bit deeper and try to get there because we know we're up against a tough team."
The Beermen are sure to come back, and Norman Black is bracing for it.
"The most important thing for me right now is to get together my coaching staff and get our heads together and figure out what adjustments they can make going into Game 7," said the Bolts coach.
"Because (San Miguel) coach Leo (Austria) has been doing a good job making adjustments every time they lose and try to anticipate what they're trying to do, and at the same time have a few adjustments of our own so that we can stay a step ahead.
"It's hard to keep them down. They're a very good team. I know that they're going to make adjustments going into the next game. We also have to make adjustments and not react to them anymore because this is the last game.
"We'll just try to study the tape really, really well and do what we have to do to get a win in Game 7 and move on the finals."