THE San Miguel Beer-Meralco semifinal showdown in the PBA Philippine Cup is back to square one.

Meralco gave returning coach Norman Black a rousing welcome, posting a convincing 99-88 win over San Miguel and levelling their best-of-seven series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Five players — Cliff Hodge, Aaron Black, Allein Maliksi, Chris Newsome and Raymar Jose — scored in double figures for the Bolts, who bounced back from a 97-121 beating from the Beermen in the series opener last Wednesday.

Hodge finished with a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bolts, who led by as many as 17 points.

Black and Maliksi added 15 points apiece, Newsome contributed 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Jose had 13 points.

Chris Banchero and Bong Quinto had nine points each and Raymond Almazan had seven points and 11 rebounds for Meralco, which raced to an early 34-20 lead in the first quarter.

Best Player of the Conference frontrunner June Mar Fajardo topscored for San Miguel with 22 points and 17 rebounds, followed by Marcio Lassiter with 16 and CJ Perez with 14.

But Rodney Brondial, who had 20 points in San Miguel’s lopsided victory in Game 1, was held to only four points on 2-of-5 shooting in 21 minutes.

Vic Manuel managed only seven points after scoring 16 points in their first meeting.

Game 3 is scheduled on Sunday also at the Big Dome.

Later, Magnolia survived a late rally by Talk N Text to subdue TNT, 92-88, and even up their own semifinal series.

The Hotshots established as much as a 19-point lead 77-58 lead but needed a strong finish to stave off a determinef comeback by the Tropang Giga.

Meanwhile the PBA honored the Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team which made the country proud behind a fighting fourth place finish in the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Singapore.

Team captain Almond Vosotros, Joseph Eriobu, Samboy De Leon, and Lervin Flores were feted.

The scores:

First game

Meralco (99) — Hodge 17, Black 15, Maliksi 15, Newsome 14, Jose 13, Banchero 9, Quinto 9, Almazan 7, Pasaol 0, Baclao 0, Pascual 0, Belo 0, Caram 0
San Miguel (88) –Fajardo 22, Lassiter 16, Perez 14, Cruz 11, Manuel 7, Herndon 6, Tautuaa 5, Brondial 4, Ross 3, Enciso 0.
Quarterscores: 34-20, 51-48, 76-72, 99-88

Second game

Magnolia (92) – Barroca 22, Sangalang 20, Abueva 18, Lee 10, Reavis 9, Wong 5, Jalalon 4, Dela Rosa 2, Laput 2, Dionisio 0.
TNT (88) –M.Williams 28, Castro 17, Erram 13, Pogoy 11, Rosario 10, K.Williams 6, Montalbo 3, Khobuntin 0, Alejano 0, Marcelo 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0
Quarterscores: 18-12, 39-29, 69-58, 92-88.

Games Sunday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m.– TNT vs. Magnolia
6:30 p.m.– Meralco vs. San Miguel