BINAN, Laguna: Finally getting the supporting crew to Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar to function well, Barangay Ginebra showed the PBA Philippine Cup field just how good it could be.

And Meralco, the poor, undersized Bolts, were made to just look so bad.

Ginebra held the Bolts to just eight points in the second period and to a combined 24 in the middle two quarters on Tuesday night, going on to bamboozle Meralco, 89-64, to get back in the elimination round fight at the Alonte Sports Center here.

Slaughter and Aguilar managed just a combined 12 points in the first half, but the Kings got contributions from almost everyone else as they opened up a 42-25 lead at the turn and never looked back.

It was just the second win in five games for Ginebra, but it looked so impressive that the Kings are now back to being labeled as one of the teams to beat – with their horde of fans expecting that they have gone past the getting-to-know process with new coach Tim Cone.

Slaughter then went to work in the third period, shooting 13, as the Kings completely broke away with leads of as big as 29 points before Cone found the luxury of sitting out his twin towers for most of the fourth quarter.

“We came out and we shot the ball well tonight,” Cone, with a hoarse voice, told a handful of reporters. “But the most important thing is that we played with the tempo that we wanted to play with and kept our big men fresh.

“We got good contributions for the first time from our guards,” he said. “Our guards played really well tonight, they had control the whole game.”

Slaughter and Aguilar finished with 18 points each to pace the Kings as Cone got all but rookie Aljon Mariano – from among the 12 players he sent into action – to contribute offensively.

Meralco was still in it after the first period when Gary David scored 10 of his 18.

But David, a two-time scoring champion, felt the defense of Mark Caguioa in the second and third quarters, going scoreless for an 18-minute stretch with no one from the Meralco roster stepping up in his stead.

The result was the ugliest rout of the young season thus far, which kept the Bolts as the only winless squad in the 12-team field after they reeled to their fifth straight defeat.

“It was a good all-around performance for us, basically,” added the multi-titled Cone. “It was a great bounce back from the debacle we had against San Miguel (on Sunday night, a 100-82 loss).”

Lost in the face of how unrelenting Ginebra played was the Barako Bull win in the first game which saw the Energy break away in the third period from Mahindra to post a 93-85 win.

RR Garcia, the third-year pro out of collegiate power Far Eastern in the UAAP, matched his career-high with 26 points, shooting all but 10 of them in the final frame to key Barako Bull’s second straight victory.

The Energy rose to 3-2 overall and dealt the Enforcers their third defeat in four games.

Garcia made all seven of his attempts from two-point zone and his third and last triple, coming at the final 1:20 mark, sealed the deal for the Energy, 91-81.

JC Intal backed him up solidly with 20 points and Willie Wilson scattered 11.

“I am just thankful that we are not playing against him,” Barako Bull coach Koy Banal said of Garcia. “He is so smart that he can do anything you ask of him.”

Mark Yee scored 17 points and plucked down a career-best 20 rebounds for the Enforcers, who played without head coach Manny Pacquiao for the second straight game.