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Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar drew more than enough help from their teammates as Barangay Ginebra thrashed winless Meralco, 89-64, for its second win in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Tuesday night at Alonte Sports Complex in Biñan, Laguna.
Slaughter and Aguilar dominated the paint anew as they combined for 36 points and 20 rebounds, but unlike Ginebra’s blowout loss to defending champion San Miguel Beer two nights ago, the Kings’ twin towers didn’t have to carry the load alone.
“We came out and we shot the ball well. The most important thing is we played the tempo that we wanted to play that can keep our big men fresh that’s really the key,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
“We got good contributions really for the first time from our guard core. Mark (Caguioa) and Nico (Salva) and LA (Tenorio) our guards played really well tonight. They were under control,” Cone said. “Good all around performance. Pretty nice bounce back game from our San Miguel debacle.”
Five other players scored at least seven points each for Ginebra with Nico Salva playing his best game yet with 11 points and five rebounds, Joe Devance adding eight points and three assists and guards LA Tenorio, Mark Caguioa and Sol Mercado chipping in seven points apiece.
It was a breakout performance by the third-year swingman Salva, who only had nine points through his first three games this season.
The Kings, who picked up only their second victory in five starts, ran away in the second quarter where they held the Bolts to just two points in the final six minutes and 11 seconds to grab a 42-25 halftime lead.
Ginebra put the game away in the third quarter with Slaughter and Aguilar anchoring the charge.
A Devance nifty feed to Sol Mercado for the easy layup gave the Kings a 72-41 spread with 9:48 remaining.
The Bolts, one of the worst defensive teams this season that has led to their 0-5 start, also had a miserable time on the offensive end. They only scored eight points in the second quarter and shot only 33% from the field.
Ginebra pounced on Meralco’s poor defense and zoomed to a 38-point third quarter nearly matching the Bolts’ 41-point output through three quarters.
Gary David scored 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting for Meralco after firing 40 points in a 108-106 defeat to Barako Bull last Sunday.
The scores:
GINEBRA 89 – Aguilar 18, Slaughter 18, Salva 11, Devance 8, Caguioa 7, Mercado 7, Tenorio 7, Ellis 4, Villamor 4, Helterbrand 3, Marcelo 2, Mariano 0, Thompson 0.
MERALCO 64 – David 18, Al-Hussaini 13, Newsome 13, Hugnatan 5, Guevarra 3, Hodge 3, Nabong 3, Amer 2, Dillinger 2, Faundo 2, Alapag 0, Atkins 0, Ferriols 0, Sedurifa 0.
Quarters: 22-17, 42-25, 70-41, 89-64