The Meralco Bolts drew first blood against the fancied Barangay Ginebra, taking advantage of the hot shooting of Allein Maliksi and Tony Bishop to defeat the Kings, 104-91, in Game One of the best-of-seven PBA Governors’ Cup Finals on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Maliksi kept his torrid shooting going as he produced 22 points, highlighted by five three-point makes, while Bishop added 20 points and 12 rebounds to push Meralco to the series-opening victory.
Cliff Hodge added 17 markers on a near-perfect 7-of-8 shooting clip while Aaron Black scored 12 in his PBA Finals debut.
“It’s very important to get that first win,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black after the match. “If you fall behind in the series, it becomes that much harder to catch up. I thought we got off to a great start offensively and our defense held up very, very well.”
Maliksi sparked Meralco’s surge in the second period as he scored 10 points in that stretch to help give the Bolts a 53-42 lead at halftime. Bishop then took over in the third canto where he poured in 12 to give the Bolts a 78-60 lead heading to the last quarter. The Bolts’ lead eventually ballooned to a high of 21, 85-64, after Bong Quinto canned a triple.
“I thought the locals did a great job of setting the tone especially Allein Maliksi. And finally, in the second half, pretty much Tony Bishop started scoring the basketball which helped us a big deal,” added Black.
The game did not end without controversy as the Bolts’ Raymar Jose and the Kings’ Arvin Tolentino got into it late in the game. Their confrontation spilled over to the hallway heading to the dugout before teammates and officials broke the scrum up.
Ginebra was led by the 27 points of Justin Brownlee, who struggled all game, making just 7-of-20 from the field. Christian Standhardinger had 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Scottie Thompson filled the stat-sheet once again, producing a triple-double of 19 points, 10 boards, and 10 dimes.
Game Two is on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
