Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio showed signs of slowly regaining their form Sunday night as Barangay Ginebra San Miguel rolled past Meralco 105-91 for its third straight win in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.
Struggling since entering the bubble days before the start of the season, Aguilar and Tenorio played important roles in Ginebra taking control of the first meeting with Meralco since winning the Governors’ Cup crown last January.
Aguilar scored 20 points as coach Tim Cone opted to field him even when the game was already in the bag while Tenorio scored all six points in the second quarter while dishing out four assists as the Kings rejoined the TNT Tropang Giga and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on top of the standings.
Stanley Pringle continued his consistent showing for Ginebra with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Jeff Chan had 12 points and four assists while rookie Arvin Tolentino posted a season-high 11 points in a starting role.
It was only the second time that Ginebra started a conference with a 3-0 record since coach Tim Cone took over in the 2015-16 season.
Like in the Governors’ Cup Finals, Ginebra was able to take control against a Meralco squad that fell to 1-2 which Cone cited for the way his team’s defensive effort.
“I just think that it was really a great defensive effort tonight,” said Cone, who also thought that Ginebra “created a lot of our offense up on our defense.”
The lopsided nature of the contest also allowed Cone to insert veteran Mark Caguioa to make his bubble debut and in the process set a PBA record.
Caguioa played more than six minutes and scored a basket in the game that made him break the record for most seasons by a player for one team.
The 40-year-old officially played his 18th season for Ginebra, breaking his tie with Purefoods legend Alvin Patrimonio and current TNT forward Harvey Carey.
Allein Maliksi scored 18 points and Reynel Hugnatan had 16 points and seven boards for Meralco in the loss.
Raymond Almazan, whose knee injury during Game 3 contributed to Meralco’s defeat to Ginebra in the Finals, had six points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.
The scores:
GINEBRA 105 — Aguilar J. 20, Pringle 16, Chan 12, Tolentino 11, Mariano 8, Thompson 7, Tenorio 6, Devance 6, Dillinger 5, Balanza 3, Caguioa 2, Salado 0, Aguilar R. 0.
MERALCO 91 — Maliksi 18, Hugnatan 16, Amer 10, Newsome 10, Almazan 6, Jackson 6, Hodge 5, Black 5, Quinto 4, Jamito 4, Jose 3, Pinto 2, Caram 2, Salva 0.
Quarters: 20-20, 51-39, 74-60, 105-91.