Internal problems notwithstanding, Meralco went about business as usual on Friday night.

With an issue with resident superstar Gary David far from being resolved, the Bolts handled Blackwater pretty well to post a 106-83 victory and reclaim the solo lead in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Import Arinze Onuaku was practically unchallenged in the paint, shooting 27 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in leading the Bolts in snapping a two-game losing streak to improve to 6-2 and move within another victory of clinching a quarterfinal spot.

Onuaku, the beefiest among imports, took MJ Rhett out of his sweet spot all night as the Meralco defense clamped down hard on the Elite, who reeled to a second straight defeat in a 3-5 card.

The game marked the first time in a long, long while that David was not in the active roster, the result of a run-in he had with coaching staff last week when he refused to enter a game in its dying minutes.

The 6-foot-2 David, a four-time scoring champion, was fined a game’s pay and suspended for another game before being placed in the unrestricted free agent’s list on Thursday afternoon by management.

Coach Norman Black admitted to the issue to have bothered his Bolts and that David “not being in the team puts us at a disadvantage, because he is one of our leading scorers.”

Rookie Baser Amer scored all of his 15 points in the first three periods and Ryan Buenafe added 11 as the duo helped plug the hole created by David’s absence as the Bolts steamrolled their way past the listless Elite.

Blackwater looked very much like a team in disarray, never tasting the lead despite coming off a very credible game against Barangay Ginebra just four nights before.

“It was a good overall team effort,” Black said. “Defensively, we were very solid, we were able to guard Rhett (with Onuaku) and then give our defense the opportunity to focus on (Blackwater’s) local players.”

Black admitted that they have yet to resolve the David issue, and that they will decide going into their next game, which is more than a week away.

“I actually told the team when we were winning that the big test would come when we lose,” Black explained as the David situation kept him in the pressroom for a longer time that what it takes for the winning coaches to talk.

“When you start losing, all the negativity starts to come out,” he said. “Players don’t care if they play five minutes or 40 minutes. But when you lose, players tend to air their grievances.”

“We did not handle Gary’s situation very well,” Black said.

Carlo Lastimosa scored 19 points to pace the Elite, who got a measly eight points and 10 rebounds and four turnovers from Rhett.

In another development, the league fined Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao P40,000 and suspended the firebrand drillmaster one game after shouting expletives at technical and game officials in a 103-98 win over Mahindra last Wednesday.

Guiao was thrown out of the court with 1:33 left in the second quarter for incurring a second technical, which he got after arguing an offensive foul slapped on his rookie, Maverick Ahanmisi.

While on the way out of the court, Guiao was caught in some photos flashing the dirty finger from both hands before letting game and technical officials hear what he had to say.

Meanwhile, crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra tries to stay in the upper half of the standings when the Gin Kings clash with Phoenix Petroleum in an out-of-town game scheduled in faraway Panabo City.

Tip-off is at 5 p.m. with the Gin Kings installed as the solid picks to notch win No. 5 in eight games.