What Happened 

The Meralco Bolts picked up their third consecutive win and second victory over Group B rivals Macau, edging the Black Bears 93–91 at The Capital Arena in Ilagan City, Philippines.

In what was a tight contest throughout, the Bolts gradually built their lead to as many as 64-44 after a Chris Newsome layup midway through the third quarter. Still, Macau refused to go away, riding 20-plus point performances from Damian Chong Qui, Phoenix Shackelford and Omari Peek-Green.

Back-to-back buckets from Shackelford and Chong Qui to end the third cut the deficit to 71–63 heading into the final period. Over the last 10 minutes, the two sides traded blows, but Meralco held firm, thanks in large part to a late offensive surge from point guard Sina Vahedi.

Running with just a six-man rotation, Macau trailed Meralco in almost every major statistical category yet still managed to keep the game within one possession. Down by two with the ball on the baseline and 2.5 seconds left in a potential game-tying situation, Shackelford overthrew an inbound pass intended for 7-foot-6 center Sam Deguara, resulting in a turnover that sealed the loss.

The Bolts finished with a season-high 31 assists on a night when legendary Philippine basketball star Justin Brownlee made his Meralco and EASL debut in a winning effort.

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What It Means 

Meralco is now 3-2 in Group B and remains in second place behind the P. LEAGUE+’s Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, who they also beat a month ago at The Capital Arena.

Macau falls to 0-2 on the season and has been swept in its season series with Meralco. The Black Bears still have not managed to get the best of the Bolts in their all-time meetings and are now 0-3, following two losses this season and one to open the 2024–25 campaign.

The Bolts have one game left in the regular season, while Macau still has the bulk of its schedule remaining with four games to play.

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Player of the Game: Sina Vahedi 

Sina Vahedi picked up his second Player of the Game honor in just three outings in Meralco colors, and he earned it. In the fourth quarter, he nearly single-handedly willed the Bolts to victory.

He finished with 23 points, five assists and three steals, with 14 of those points coming in the final frame, including two huge threes – one from the right corner and another from the left wing.

After tonight, Vahedi is now averaging 18.3 points and 5.3 assists this EASL season, which is no surprise for someone coming off a strong FIBA qualifying window where he led Iran with 21 points against Iraq on November 27.

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Super Statistic: 3 

Though Meralco dropped its first two games of the 2025–26 season – to the Ryukyu Golden Kings and Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, respectively – the Bolts have rebounded tremendously, setting a new franchise record for EASL wins after securing their third consecutive victory on Saturday night.

This is Meralco’s third straight EASL campaign, but success had been limited in previous seasons. In 2023–24, the Bolts managed just one win, an overtime thriller against Ryukyu. In 2024–25, they took a step forward with two victories, one over the Macau Black Bears and another in a tight game against then-reigning KBL champions, the Busan KCC Egis.

Today, history was made as Meralco rode the heroics of Sina Vahedi, Chris Newsome, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and others to clinch a third win. Fittingly, Justin Brownlee’s debut with the squad came on the same night the Bolts rewrote their EASL history.

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Next Up 

After playing five EASL games in under two months — not including their domestic league schedule — the Meralco Bolts are overdue for rest, and they’ll get it. Meralco won’t play again until February 11, the final gameday of the regular season, when they host the Ryukyu Golden Kings in a rematch of their October 22 season opener.

For Macau, the trip to the Philippines was only the beginning of a long road swing. The Black Bears now head to Taoyuan for a December 14 matchup against the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots before traveling again just three days later to Okinawa, Japan for a meeting with Ryukyu.