Ginebra downs Globalport, nails no. 1 spot in PBA PH Cup

Japeth Aguilar of Ginebra (dark) vs Jewel Ponferada of GlobalPort (light).

MANILA, Philippines — Ginebra nailed the number one spot in the quarterfinals with a 108-92 win over Globalport Friday in the 2014 PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Greg Slaughter threw his weight around for a career-best 23 points along with 13 rebounds to power the Kings, who also nabbed the twice-to-beat incentive against the number eighth seed.

The Kings, who have been atop the race for the last month, improve to 11-2 and not even a loss to Talk N’ Text on Sunday and a win by Rain or Shine can knock them out of their place.

“Now I can say we’re number one,” said head coach Ato Agustin in the post-match presser in Filipino. “We got our aim.”

Slaughter scored 16 of his total output in the second half, where the Kings effectively fended off countless Batang Pier comebacks.

“We were able to push the ball. Our transition and rebounding was good. We didn’t panic when the opponent recovered,” said Agustin.

Globalport was persistent in trying to take over and cut the lead further down to six, 82-88, with six minutes left to play, after also inching as close in the third.

But Slaughter just imposed his will inside and the Kings were never threatened again after that.

Japeth Aguilar also had a super showing with 21 points, while Mac Baracael matched the Batang Pier’s 3-point output combined with three for an 18-point performance.

While the Kings await their opponents, the Batang Pier await their fate in the playoffs as a win by Alaska on Sunday will forge a playoff against Globalport for the number eighth spot.

There wasn’t much the Batan Pier could do to stop the Kings’ biggies, not even a throwback performance from forward Eric Menk, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.