Gin Kings put cuffs on Bolts

MANILA, Philippines -- It was not a pretty win, but it was still one. 

Barangay Ginebra grinded one out and returned to the win column after keeping the Meralco Bolts at bay, 84-75, Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

The Gin Kings held the Bolts to a 33.7% field goal shooting, keeping the latter to a conference-low scoring output. 

RJ Abarrientos and Riley Grigsby led the attack for Ginebra. The former had 27 markers, three boards, three dimes and a steal, while the latter had 25 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal in the win, which put the Gin Kings at a 2-2 win-loss record. 

“Yeah, it was a real grind-it-out game. Really proud of our guys for really sticking their nose into it and really grinding this thing out. It wasn't a pretty game by any means. We know we're not playing pretty basketball yet,” Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said. 

“We hope that we can be a little bit more pleasing to the eye as we progress. But right now, our offense is trying to catch up with our defense. So we're coming out and just trying to defend as best we can and grind out wins. That’s what we did tonight,” he added. 

Ginebra led by as much as 19 points, 48-29, in the third quarter after a 4-pointer by Grigsby. 

The Bolts, though, sliced the deficit to nine, 58-67, with 9:42 left after a jumper by Chris Banchero. 

But the Gin Kings kept their distance from the Bolts, as the nearest Meralco got to was within eight points. 

“We'd like to see better balance in the lineup, but RJ and Riley really took the cudgels tonight,” Cone said. 

“The way they were defending and pressuring, we couldn't get a lot of execution done So we had to rely on our best players to create for us, and they did. Luckily, we had enough offense to win tonight.” 

Stephen Holt had eight points for the Gin Kings. Troy Rosario and Japeth Aguilar chipped in seven each. 

Antonio Hester powered the Bolts with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Banchero backstopped with 15 points for Meralco, which dropped to 2-3 in the standings.