Ginebra grabs share of top spot, whips Meralco

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MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra maintained its perfect start after taking down Meralco, 105-91, in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday at Angeles University.

The Gin Kings improved to 3-0 and tied TNT and Rain or Shine at the top of the standings while the Bolts dropped to 1-2.

After a 20-20 tie in the first quarter, the Gin Kings used a strong second quarter to build a big enough margin well until the rest of the match.

Ginebra went on a 14-3 run to take a 42-31 lead off of Jeff Chan’s layup with 3:58 left in the first half.

“I just thought it was a great defensive effort from us tonight, and we did a good job defending their pick and roll,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone. “We didn’t get a lot of breakdowns, and we’re able to stay in the game.”

“We hung tough mentally and played a lot better.”

Ginebra eventually went up by as many as 24, 92-68, off another Chan layup.

Japeth Aguilar put up 20 points and four rebounds to lead the Gin Kings while Stanley Pringle added 16 points and seven boards.

Allein Maliksi and Reynel Hugnatan had 18 and 16 points, respectively for the Bolts.