Durham and Amer drained big shots, and the Bolts watched the Kings muff critical shots of their own to win the well-fought contest before a raucous crowd of over 16,000.
The two teams break the 2-2 logjam in the best-of-seven series in Game Five Sunday over at the Philippine Arena.
“We’ve got a series. It’s good for the basketball program of Meralco and it’s good for the series,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.
“It’s a great game and we just came up short. We’re playing a tough team and they’ve done a good job on pinpointing our weaknesses. But we’re very much okay going to Game Five,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Durham and Amer made the big shots to highlight their big games, with Chris Newsome and Reynel Hugnatan having their essential help as the Bolts scored a follow-up on their 94-81 win in Game Three.
Meanwhile, Justin Brownlee went 0-of-3 from the field in the last 40 seconds, thus, sending down the drain his near triple-double performance with 34 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.
“Our execution down the stretch was very good except for a layup that Jared Dillinger missed. We ran our plays smoothly. It’s always beautiful if it works; it’s not if it doesn’t,” said Black.
Durham converted an under-goal shot off a perfect dish by Hugnatan for the winning basket with 42 ticks to go.
The Kings could’ve still salvaged the game but Sol Mercado and Brownlee muffed a three-point shot each. Brownlee later also missed a 10-footer and a follow-up in the dying seconds.