MANILA: Playing with a lot of intensity to make up for its mammoth disadvantage in size, Meralco on Friday night showed that being small is not a problem.

With no reliable, legitimate center to man the slot, the Bolts played with total team effort on both ends and brought towering Barangay Ginebra to its knees, with a 109-99 win putting Meralco back in the top two hunt in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Cliff Hodge and Reynel Hugnatan and the veteran John Ferriols, who are all no taller than 6-feet-4, turned in the effort inside the paint that frustrated the Gin Kings’ big men all night as the offense flowed like second nature for the Bolts after that.

And with Gary David, Jared Dillinger and Mark Macapagal connecting on crucial jumpers in the stretch, the Bolts held off the Gin Kings from completing their patented finishing kick to improve to 4-3.

The loss was the second straight for Ginebra, which came into the game still smarting from a 79-77 defeat at the hands of sister team San Miguel Beer last Sunday.

Ginebra dropped to 5-3 and fell two games out of the pace being jointly held by Alaska and the Beermen.

Incidentally, the Aces get a chance to reclaim solo lead Saturday when they clash with resurgent Globalport in Cagayan de Oro, a crucial outing for both since the result could more or less determine who will bag a top two slot.

That match is slated at 5 p.m. and an Alaska victory would give the Aces a virtual headstart on the Beermen going into the final two weeks of the elimination round.

Finishing in the top two would mean an automatic Final Four seat, which will give the teams a pretty decent break while watching everyone else slug it out in the first round of the playoffs.

“We are pretty used to being undersized,” Norman Black, the Meralco coach who got a belated birthday gift with the win, said.

“It was a good thing that the boys came out with a lot of effort and a lot of energy. We did a decent (defensive) job on (their) big men,” added Black, who got five players shooting 12 points or more then basically plugged the holes created by the absence of Sean Anthony and John Wilson.

David scored five straight points in a critical span that quelled the most furious of Ginebra’s comebacks from several 14-point holes as the Bolts rebuilt a 98-91 lead entering the final five minutes.

And when the Meralco offense cooled off and allowed Ginebra to come within 103-99 with still 1:57 left, the Bolts’ gung-ho defense held the Gin Kings scoreless from there to seal the deal.

Hodge and Macapagal topscored for the Bolts with 18 points each, while Dillinger added 15 and eight rebounds to ean Player of the Game honors.

David scattered 16, including the last four Meralco points.

NLEX was also another side that snapped a losing streak earlier in the night, toying with newcomer Blackwater in a 104-84 victory that enhanced the Road Warriors’ playoff position.

Asi Taulava continued to defy Father Time with another monster performance, shooting 24 points that went with 10 rebounds and five assists as the Road Warriors rose to 3-4 by putting an end to a three-game slide.

Blackwater remained winless in eight games and this one was by far the ugliest loss for the Elite, who seemed unwilling to give it a hard try for most of the night.

From 58-49, the 41-year-old Taulava dropped 10 straight points as the Road Warriors broke away for good at 68-49.

“There’s still a long way to go for us, but if we continue what we’re doing in practice, we’ll be fine,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez.

“It’s more of believing in our system and believing in our game plan. And hopefully we continue to improve as a team,” said Fernandez, whose wards have Rain or Shine, Alaska Milk, Barako Bull and KIA as their next assignments.