MANILA — Barangay Ginebra's young and explosive twin towers Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter proved too much for Air21's aging tower Asi Taulava as the Kings smothered the Express, 78-69, Wednesday night in the PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena. Playing spectacular basketball, the 6'9” Aguilar nearly had a triple double, finishing with 22 points, 12 rebounds and a record-breaking eight blocks. On the other hand, the 7-footer rookie Slaughter was equally impressive with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. The two Ginebra giants utterly dominated the 6'9” Taulava, Air21's lone big man, who had eight points and 13 boards. At one point in the final quarter, Taulava's drive to the basket was emphatically blocked by both Slaughter and Aguilar, providing an exclamation point to the match. Chris Ellis also joined forces with the twin towers, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ginebra's top gunner and 2012 MVP Mark Caguioa struggled for just eight points in 16 minutes of play as he continued to grope for form after being downed by the flu last week. The Kings rolled to their sixth win in seven games, firming their grip on solo second spot in the standings. Conversely, the Express tumbled to their seventh loss in eight games, staying glued at the bottom of the standings. The Kings cruised to a 15-point lead at halftime, 41-26. The Express tried to put up a fight, coming to within five points several times in the fourth quarter. But each time the Express drew close, Ginebra simply turned to Aguilar and Slaughter to provide more cushion. Joseph Yeo led the Express with 28 points, 21 of them scored in the second half. KG Canaleta added 14 points. The usually reliable Mac Cardona was limited to just four points on a miserable 2-of-13 shooting from the field. Alaska 91, Meralco 82 Three Aces combined for 67 points as Alaska snapped out of a two-game losing streak , grounding the Meralco Bolts, 91-82, in the second match of the Wednesday double-header. Alaska thus tied Meralco at sixth to seventh place, both with a 3-5 win-loss card. Dondon Hontiveros regained his fiery form, scoring a personal season-high 24 points. Cyrus Baguio was equally hot, finishing with 23 points, eight of them in a 10-0 Alaska run that broke a 79-all deadlock. Big man Sonny Thoss added 20 points while Gabby Espinas recorded a career-best 23 rebounds. Meralco reeled from its second straight defeat after scoring impressive victories against Barangay Ginebra and San Mig Coffee. Mike Cortez led the Bolts with a near double-double of 23 points and eight assists. Gary David and Reynel Hugnatan scored 15 apiece. Games Friday: Barako Bull vs. Talk 'N Text and GlobalPort vs. San Mig Coffee.
