The Meralco Bolts held the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings scoreless in the last five minutes and to their lowest-scoring game in two years with an 83-74 stopping in Game 3 Sunday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Gin Kings struggled to score five times from inside and outside the paint, allowing the Bolts to take a nine-point triumph and seize a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven finals series in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup.
Tony Bishop showed the way with 30 points and 16 rebounds for the Bolts, who could zero in on the title if they win Game 4 on Wednesday.
Bolts’ coach Norman Black said both sides played good defense, but the they managed to gain control of the boards and outrebound the Gin Kings, 55-45.
“It was difficult to score out there. It was just a matter of getting some stops and trying to hold them for as long as we can” said Black.
The Gin Kings had trouble with their outside shots, making on 4 of 32 three-point attempts land this tolled heavily on them.
The Gins could not find their mark after Christian Standhardinger brought them close for the last time with his three-point play with 5:23 to go, 73-75.
Chris Newsome, who tallied 20 points, knocked in a trey with 5:09 left to give a Meralco a 79-74 lead.
Justin Brownlee powered Ginebra with 19 points, his lowest output in the finals series after he was limited to three points apiece in the third and fourth quarters.
Standhardinger contributed 17 points, while Tenorio and Scottie Thompson shot 11 points for Ginebra, which was held to one of their lowest outputs in a finals series.
The last time Ginebra was held to its lowest production in a finals’ series was when it suffered an 88-67 loss to TNT in Game 3 of the 2020 Philippine Cup Clark bubble title series.