PBA: Mason, Slaughter combine for 54 as Ginebra downs Meralco

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel overpowered the Meralco Bolts, 95-82, in the 2014 PBA Governors' Cup on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Zaccheus Mason dropped a game-high 32 points and 19 rebounds. Greg Slaughter came up with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Mac Baracael added 11 points, and hit all his three-point attempts.

Coach Jeff Cariaso commended his team's perseverance against a Meralco squad that was very competitive through the first half.

"What I liked about tonight was us going through a hard time early in the first quarter. What I'm most proud of is today we stuck to the system," said Cariaso. "We just stuck to the way I wanted them to play to keep it close, and just ran away with it."

"In the first half we played good defense in spurts," the neophyte head coach added. "But once we established ourselves and made a conscious effort to play defensively, tuloy-tuloy na kami."

Ginebra (2-0) ties Air21 atop the league rankings, while Meralco (0-3) fell to last place.

The Bolts caught Ginebra off-guard, and raced out to a 12-2 lead off a Terrence Williams triple. Ginebra called a timeout and briefly drew within one, 13-12, but undercut their progress with turnovers. Meralco held down the Barangay's locals, while Cliff Hodge and Gary David connected from deep to establish a 28-18 lead to end the period.

In the second quarter, it was Meralco who couldn't control the ball and blanked their shots. Ginebra made baskets in transition, and found Mac Baracael beyond the arc for a 31-9 swing, a run that included Danny Ildefonso tipping the ball in Ginebra's basket to make it a 42-37 game with three minutes to play.

At halftime, Ginebra held a 46-43 lead.



After going back and forth to start the second half, Zaccheus Mason gave Ginebra the separation they needed, whether by posting up or penetrating inside. Mason scored 10 during a 13-4 run midway through the period, and Ginebra finished the quarter with a 68-61 advantage.

Ginebra was content with going tit-for-tat in the fourth, keeping the lead between six to 10 points. Meralco's interior defense couldn't contain neither Mason nor Greg Slaughter, failing to put together a comeback bid despite the surmountable margin.

Ginebra went 37-of-87 (42.5 percent) from the field and held the Bolts to 31-of-86 (36 percent) shooting. BGSM also led 16-8 in turnover points and 12-7 in second-chance points.

Terrence Williams paced Meralco with 26 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Cliff Hodge notched 19 points and six rebounds. Gary David had 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Jared Dillinger had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

Ginebra 95 - Mason 32, Slaughter 22, Baracael 11, Ellis 9, Aguilar 4, Tenorio 4, Caguioa 4, Monfort 3, Reyes 2, Helterbrand 2, Mamaril 2, Ababou 0

Meralco 82 - Williams 26, Hodge 19, David 12, Dillinger 11, Hugnatan 8, Ildefonso 2, Caram 2, Wilson 2, Timberlake 0, Salvacion 0

Quarter scoring: 18-28, 46-43, 68-61, 95-82