Barangay Ginebra ignited a decisive run midway into the final period to ground Meralco, 100-92, and draw first blood in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three quarterfinals series Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Down two points in the final quarter of a tightly contested and highly physical showdown, the Gin King racked up five straight points to take the lead and held it from there to once again stamp their class over the same team they defeated in the elimination round.

“It was really a tough game especially because Meralco is a very good defensive team and they made it really difficult for us to execute our offense,” Ginebra assistant coach Richard Del Rosario said.

“That was the challenge for us, how to stay disciplined with our execution. They do a lot of things that take you out of your execution. I think the players’ grit won it for us,” he added. 

Ginebra will try to finish off the Bolts on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Scottie Thompson finished with a conference personal-best 23 points on 9-of-13 field goal shooting while grabbing seven rebounds, six assists, four steals and one block in the Kings’ fifth straight victory over Meralco, which they swept in the season-opening Governors’ Cup quarter.

Resident import Justine Brownlee got 23 markers and nine rebounds, Japeth Aguilar scored 19 points and had nine boards while RJ Abarrientos had 14 markers for the Kings.

Raymond Almazan got Meralco within one, 89-90, with 6:49 left before Brownlee, Abarrientos and Thompson sank consecutive baskets to keep Ginebra at a safe distance before holding on.

Chris Newsome paced the Bolts with 20 points while Akil Mitchell returned after a two-game absence due to back spasms and registered 19 points, 14 rebounds, six rebounds and three steals in a lost cause.

Jansen Rios added 13 markers, Chris Banchero got 12 while Bong Quinto scored 11 in Meralco’s third straight defeat.

The scores:

GINEBRA (100) --- Thompson 23, Brownlee 23, J.Aguilar 19, Abarrientos 14, Rosario 8, Malonzo 7, Holt 6, Ahanmisi 0

MERALCO (92) --- Newsome 20, Mitchell 19, Rios 13, Banchero 12, Quinto 11, Almazan 8, Black 5, Hodge 4, Bates 0, Cansino 0

Quarters: 24-17, 50-47, 78-76, 100-92