ALLEIN MALIKSI and import Tony Bishop were scorching hot on Wednesday night as Meralco scored a lopsided 104-91 win over defending champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Finals series for Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Maliksi erupted for 22 points marked by five triples and also had eight rebounds while Bishop racked up 12 of his 20 points in the third quarter with 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals as the Bolts who jumped the gun on the defending champions.
“It’s very important to get that first win because if you fall behind in the series, it’s very hard to catch up,” Meralco coach Norman Black said. “I thought we really got off to a great start offensively and our defense held up very, very well,”
The Bolts relied heavily on the locals at the half especially on Maliksi’s 15 points that got them to a 53-42 cushion after the first two periods.
Bishop, Cliff Hodge and Raymon Almazan then stepped up huge in the second half.
Meralco led the most at 85-64 early in the fourth quarter and totally controlled the game the rest of the way.
Hodge sank nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, while Aaron Black was consistent as he was in the semifinals and finished with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Almazan contributed 10 points.
Justin Brownlee led Ginebra with 27 points while Christian Standhardinger added 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Scottie Thompson’s triple double of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists went to naught.
Arvin Tolentino of Ginebra and Reymar Jose of Meralco almost came to blows as the teams headed to their respective dugouts. They were both pacified by their teammates.
A crowd of 12,457 came to watch the game live at the Big Dome, the biggest since the league opened its gates to the fanes.
Game 2 is set on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.