Gin Kings pound Bolts to take Game 1

LUCENA City, Quezon — It took a while before Barangay Ginebra caught fire. But when they did, they left the Meralco Bolts gasping for whatever they could just to make it close.

The Gin Kings drew first blood in their PBA Governors’ Cup Finals rematch with the Meralco Bolts after a 102-87 victory Friday night here.

Ginebra and Meralco were neck-and-neck in action until Joe Devance sank a jumpshot five minutes into the opening period to put the Bolts in the passenger seat and never looked back.

Beloved Gin Kings import Justin Brownlee scattered 32 markers to pace his team. He did everything — from midrange jumpers, longbombs and dunks in transition to defensive stops — to keep Ginebra ahead.

Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter added 15 and 14 points, respectively, to reinforce the effort.

"We played really well tonight. We hit our shots and they were 2-of-17 from the three-point line in the first half. They’re the number one three-point shooting team and it was an unusual night for them. Lets give credit to our defense, but they really missed a lot of three-pointers," head coach Tim Cone said.

"They’re unfamiliar with the court and the rings and whatever plays into that, but on the other end, we hit our shots. We played well. I thought we controlled the game from pretty much start to finish but you take everything after Game 1 with a real grain of salt," the decorated mentor added.

Bolts’ reinforcement Allen Durham — who is currently a cinch for the Best Import plum — tallied 27 points. Baser Amer chimed in 14 as Mike Tolomia added 10 more but their effort weren’t enough to surmount a cushion built by their foes in the first half.

Ginebra, which beat Meralco in last year’s series in six games, led by as many as 21 points in the affair.

The saga resumes this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.


The scores

GINEBRA 102: Brownlee 32, Aguilar 15, Slaughter 14, Ferrer 11, Tenorio 10, Devance 9, Mercado 7, Caguioa 2, Thompson 2,  Helterbrand 0, Taha 0.

MERALCO 87: Durham 27, Amer 14, Tolomia 10, De Ocampo 8, Hodge 8, Dillinger 6, Lanete 6,  Newsome 6, Hugnatan 0, Caram 0.

Quarterscores: 29-18, 49-35, 77-71, 102-87.