Meralco’s measure of revenge after Dunigan loss to Ginebra
No Michael Dunigan? No problem for Meralco.
After losing in a tug-of-war with Barangay Ginebra for the services of Dunigan, the Bolts on Tuesday night scored some measure of revenge on the Gin Kings after scoring an 85-74 victory at the start of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup’s elimination round at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Making do with an import in Josh Davis that the Bolts had to scramble for, Meralco took control late in the first quarter before holding the Gin Kings at bay, as Davis got all the help he needed from Gary David and Mike Cortez and a horde of role players who performed their respective tasks to the hilt.
Davis finished with 25 points by hitting some pretty unorthodox shots. He also snared down a night-high 24 rebounds, while David was a steady outside gun for coach Norman Black and finished with 21.
Cortez manned the point with great effect for the Bolts, who thought that they had Dunigan in the bag until the former Air21 import decided to sign with Ginebra at the last minute and left Meralco seeking a suitable replacement just days before the opening.
“It’s a great start for us,” a hoarse Black told reporters minutes after the win. “Josh controlled the boards, which is what we brought him in for.”
Black said that he went to the United States recently not to sign an import here, but for the season-ending Governors’ Cup, only to be greeted of the news that Dunigan and his agent had gone on to sign with Ginebra.
“I can’t control what he does, or what his agent does,” Black said when asked what happened. “We just have to move on. We scrambled and got a pretty good import.”
Greg Slaughter actually played bigger than Dunigan, shooting 23 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. He had 15 of his total in the fourth when the Gin Kings made a desperate final run.
Meralco, though, stopped it with David hitting some timely jumpers and Davis dominating the inside with two tip-ins coming off his own misses.
After erecting several double digit leads in the second quarter, the Kings came roaring back to within 42-45, only for the Bolts to counter with a 17-1 run that had them taking a 62-43 lead that Ginebra never came close to overhauling.
Dunigan, one of the most dominating forces when he played for defunct Air21 two seasons ago, finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Meralco held the other big guns of Ginebra to the minimum, ,with former MVP Mark Caguioa shut down to just six like Joseph Yeo and Japeth Aguilar finishing scoreless.
In the first game, Globalport showed the balance it has with import CJ Leslie leading the way as the Batang Pier ripped newcomer KIA Motors, 100-89.
Leslie, whom interim coach Eric Gonzales said is still in his ‘honeymoon stage’ with the Batang Pier, scored 33 points, had 14 rebounds, five blocks and three assists in a brilliant debut that got Globalport off on the right foot.
Terrence Romeo and rookie Stanley Pringle backed up Leslie well, shooting 19 and 17 points, respectively, as the Batang Pier took leads of as large as 24 points in the second quarter to win impressively.
The loss put to naught the 41-point, 20-rebound and six-assist debut of the hulking PJ Ramos for the Carnival, who were known as the Sorento in the Philippine Cup.
The change in name didn’t do KIA any good, with its locals faring miserably in manning the fort when Ramos picked up his third foul near the halfway mark of the first quarter.
KIA actually started pretty well, only to sputter when Ramos hit the bench because of fouls. From what was a close game, the Batang Pier broke away and zoomed to a 49-25 lead with under seven minutes left in the second quarter.
Globalport, which was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Cup, would not allow the Carnival to get closer than seven points the rest of the way.