MERALCO operated with a sustained strength and power in full four quarters, blasting Barangay Ginebra, 104-91, at the start of their PBA Governors' Cup best-of-seven title showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
Tony Bishop and the Meralco locals complemented each other well, fashioning out a dominant win to gain the crucial head start in the race-to-four-games series.
Bishop piled up 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, with four locals also delivering double-digit outputs in a solid continuation of their conquest of the Magnolia Hotshots in the decider of their best-of-five semifinal faceoff.
Aaron Black stepped up with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists, and was named the Best Player of the Game.
"We really take pride in our effort on the defensive end. Pero sumabay ang opensa namin. Everybody came out to shoot the ball very well," said Black, mentioning offensive contributions by Allein Maliksi (22 markers), Cliff Hodge (17) and Raymond Almazan (10).
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"We're happy for the win, but we're not satisfied," Black also said.
The Bolts try to sustain their romp with play shifting over to the MOA Arena in Pasay for Games Two and Three.
"Alam namin we're beaten by Ginebra in the previous series. We came out looking forward to making new history. But we also know we can't relax. For sure, they will come out strong in the next game," said Black.
Game One belonged to the Bolts who played steadily all throughout, dominating the Kings after they cut loose from 23-25 down at the start of the second quarter.
Bishop and his teammates bamboozled the Kings 28-19 in the second quarter and 25-18 in the third.
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The Bolts broke away to 78-60 at the end of the third with a run highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers and a follow-up dunk by Bishop.
The Bolts were on target, hitting at a 55-percent clip (50 percent from beyond the arc) as they took the half at 53-42.
Maliksi waxed hottest with a 3-of-4 three-point shooting and a 6-of-10 clip overall, leading their charge from four points down to zoom to an 11-point spread going to the second half.
The Bolts led by as many as 14 before Scottie Thompson banged away a trey from the left flank shortly before the halftime buzzer.
Thompson, a strong candidate for the Best Player of the Conference, paced the Kings with 14 markers in the first two quarters of play. (SB)
The scores:
Meralco 104 - Maliksi 22, Bishop 20, Hodge 17, Black 12, Newsome 8, Quinto 6, Belo 5, Banchero 2, Jose 2, Caram 0, Baclao 0, Canete 0, Pasaol 0, Jamito 0.
Ginebra 91 - Brownlee 27, Standhardinger 20, Thompson 19, Tolentino 6, Chan 5, Tenorio 5, Caperal 4, Ayaay 3, Pinto 2, Mariano 0, Onwubere 0, Devance 0, Enriquez 0.
Quarters: 25-23, 53-42, 78-60, 104-91
