August 05, 2017

Ginebra Halts NLEX 4-game win streak on the road

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – Barangay Ginebra stopped NLEX on its tracks as the Gin Kings went on full throttle in the third quarter and roared to a 110-97 win over the Road Warriors in their Petron Blaze road setto in the PBA Governors Cup at the Calasiao Sports Complex here.

After playing the Road Warriors to a 50-48 battle in the first half, the Kings exploded for 36 points in the third period and refused to slow down on the way to nailing a third straight win.

LA Tenorio and Joe Devance led the Kings’ decisive third-quarter surge, enabling Ginebra to lead by 20 at 86-66 before stretching it to 22 in the fourth, then eventually snapping NLEX’s four-game unbeaten run.

Ginebra moved up to solo fourth at 3-1 while NLEX dropped to third at 4-1 behind Star (3-0) and Meralco (3-0).

The Kings went on a roller-coaster ride in the first half, coming out listlessly in each of the first two quarters but wiped out a double-digit deficit to take the half at 50-48.

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The count stood at 50-46 before Eman Monfort made a zigzagging move to convert a tough shot off two defenders at the buzzer.

Then the Kings did just about everything the right way at the start of the second half.

In the process, they opened a 10-point lead, 71-61, midway through the third and made it a 20-point spread, 86-66, on a breakaway layup by Chris Ellis on a Tenorio fastbreak.

Devance top scored with 23 points while Justin Brownlee came through with 22 markers, 13 boards and six assists.

Tenorio finished with 17 points and seven assists to make up for eight turnovers while Japeth Aguilar contributed 10 markers, six rebounds and two assists before joining Gilas Pilipinas in their Lebanon trip for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup.

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Aaron Fuller paced the losing team with 20 points and 17 rebounds.
The Kings moved the ball around well as they did in their previous two wins.

They produced 32 assists with Scottie Thompson accounting for 11. (SB)