MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings survived several endgame runs by San Miguel Beermen to pull off a 99-94 victory in Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals last night at the City of Dasmariñas Arena in Dasmarinas, Cavite.
Justin Brownlee had an all-around performance of 30 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists, and five blocks as the Gin Kings surged to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Holding to a slim 82-79 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Gin Kings got conversions from Japeth Aguilar, Stephen Holt, and Brownlee to stretch their advantage to 89-82.
The Beermen responded with their own run to cut the deficit to 90-93, but consecutive hits from Holt and Brownlee extended the Gin Kings’ lead to 97-90 with under a minute remaining.
“We defended so much better tonight, we played playoffs-type of defense tonight and that is the key to this victory,” Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone said in a post-game interview.
“We have uncertain moments in the third quarter, when we go out from the half, but thanks to this guy right here (Brownlee) he recovered and thanks to this guy again we were able to win it in the endgame,” he added.
Aguilar backed up Brownlee offensively with 22 points to go with eight rebounds, Maverick Ahanmisi posted a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Holt ended with 11 markers.
Ejimofor Anosike finished with a double-double of 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Beermen, Jaymar Perez added 13 markers, while Marcio Lassiter and June Mar Fajardo ended with 12 apiece./PN
BOX SCORE:
GINEBRA 99 – Brownlee 30, J. Aguilar 22, Ahanmisi 15, Holt 11, Abarrientos 8, Thompson 8, Cu 5, Adamos 0, Devance 0.
SAN MIGUEL 94 – Anosike 32, Perez 13, Fajardo 12, Lassiter 12, Cruz 9, Romeo 8, Trollano 3, Ross 3, Tautuaa 2, Rosales 0.
Quarterscores: 25-20, 54-45, 76-72, 99-94.
