MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings renewed its mastery of Meralco Bolts with a 105-91 beating in the 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup at the AUF Sports Arena and Cultural Center in Pampanga last night.
Japeth Aguilar tallied conference-best 20 points, Stanley Pringle chipped in 16 markers while Negrense Jeffrei Chan and rookie Arvin Tolentino had 12 and 11 markers respectively as the Kings which improved to a 3-0 win-loss slate.
From a 20-all after the first 12 minutes, the Kings created separation from its Governors’ Cup finals rival Bolts in the second period with hits from Aguilar, Pringle and Tolentino to establish a 51-39 halftime advantage.
The Bolts tried their best to catch up in the third period, but Ginebra maintained the double-digit advantage with conversions from Tolentino, Prince Caperal and Aljon Mariano.
In the final quarter, the Kings established their largest lead at 94-70 following a basket from Caperal before the Bolts came up with late baskets to trim the final margin.
Allein Maliksi finished the outing with 18 points, including four three-point conversions, Negrense Reynel Hugnatan added 16 markers while Baser Amer and Chris Newsome had 10 each for the Bolts (1-2).
In PBA’s first game yesterday, Rey Nambatac drained two free throws with a second remaining as the Rain or Shine (ROS) Elasto Painters completed its come-from-behind 70-68 win over the NorthPort Batang Pier to remain undefeated in three games.
Down 14-27 in the early goings of the match, the Painters mounted a huge run to come to within 32-38 at the half, a move up 46-40 after three quarters outscoring the Batang Pier, 14-2.
NorthPort knotted the count at 48-all early in the fourth period, but ROS pulled away behind Adrian Wong and Nambatac for its largest lead at 63-52. But it was quickly erased by the Batang Pier for a 68-all count before Nambatac drained the go-ahead free throws.
Nambatac finished the match with 10 points while Wong and Sidney Onwubere had career-games 15 and 11 markers respectively for the Painters. Garvo Lanete, Sean Anthony and Christian Standhardinger ended the game with 13 each for the Batang Pier (0-3).
BOX SCORE:
GINEBRA 105 – J. Aguilar 20, Pringle 16, Chan 12, Tolentino 11, Caperal 9, Mariano 8, Thompson 7, Tenorio 6, Devance 6, Dillinger 5, Balanza 3, Caguioa 2, Salado 0, R. Aguilar 0.
MERALCO 91 – Maliksi 18, Hugnatan 16, Amer 10, Newsome 10, Almazan 6, Jackson 6, Hodge 5, Black 5, Quinto 4, Jamito 4, Jose 3, Caram 2, Pinto 2, Salva 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
Q1, 20-20; Q2, 51-39; Q3, 74-60; Q4, 105-91./PN
