MANILA, Philippines – "A little bit embarrassing."

This was how Meralco head coach Norman Black described the Bolts' performance after they succumbed to GlobalPort, 107-88, in the PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Batang Pier took the fight to Meralco right from the very start, as they knocked down seven three-pointers in the opening frame to seize a 29-16 advantage. They showed no let up from that point, eventually leading by as much as 29.

"Bad loss," Black admitted after the game. "Very poor performance on the part of the Meralco team, and a little bit embarrassing, to be honest with you, the way we played tonight."

"I thought we got manhandled by GlobalPort, and we didn't really respond very well," he added.

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The statistics showed how badly Meralco got beaten. GlobalPort shot 43% from the field and limited the Bolts to 37% shooting. They had 21 free throws to only eight for Meralco, and made 12 of their 40 attempts from beyond the arc.

Black explained that their inability to stop GlobalPort's three-point shooting in the opening period was a bad omen for the Bolts.

"They made a lot of three-pointers against us. That seemed to deflate us a little bit, offensively," he said.

However, what is most concerning to Black is how much they were clobbered on the boards.

GlobalPort grabbed 67 rebounds, while Meralco only had 46 rebounds. The Batang Pier had 22 offensive rebounds, which led to 25 second-chance points.

"We're just not controlling the paint," Black sighed. "We got killed on the boards tonight again and if we don't control the middle of the court, we're not gonna win very many games. So that's something we really have to work on."

"We have to become better at getting our defensive rebounds so we can get out there and run and get some easy baskets because tonight we were pretty much dominated inside," he stressed.

The loss was Meralco's fourth of the conference against only two wins. They are currently tied for 9th to 11th places in the league standings with NLEX and Blackwater, just ahead of Kia Picanto.

The Bolts will try to bounce back on Friday against Rain or Shine at the Mall of Asia Arena.

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