THERE was no big-time scoring explosion from Justin Brownlee Friday, but his local teammates ably picked up the slack for Barangay Ginebra's 121-92 victory over San Miguel Beer in their PBA Governors' Cup semifinals series at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Brownlee was nowhere near his 49-point performance the last time out with 18 points, but Scottie Thompson and RJ Abarrientos combined for 50 points in leading the Gin Kings to a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Ginebra now has two chances to wrap up the duel starting Sunday.
Coach Tim Cone is simply glad his side managed to weather SMB's early onslaught that netted the Beermen as much as a 13-point lead and brought back memories of the latter's cruising 131-121 win in Game 4.
"I tell you they came out with guns a-blazing at the beginning of the game. It was almost like Game 4 all over again. They just came out firing and then there was a lot of worry in the timeouts," said Cone.
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"But we kind of got settled, I thought RJ and Joe (Devance), the two of them came out in that first quarter, kind of settled us down, hit some shots. Scottie did a great job of keeping us in the game early. So we were able to settle ourselves down. I think we were just too pumped up in the beginning and we weren't really thinking the game," added Cone.
"But we just got it turned around and a lot of contributions from everybody. It wasn't all just Justin tonight. I thought Japeth (Aguilar) and Joe did a really good job defensively tonight and that was really the key."
Indeed, Thompson scored 18 of his 22 points in the opening period before Abarrientos conspired mostly with Brownlee and Aguilar in the second period that saw Ginebra outscore SMB, 29-17, to post a 63-50 lead at halftime.
Flashing some of their usual fiery form, the Beermen managed to trim the deficit to 73-75. But Stephen Holt completed a three-point play that sparked a 14-4 exchange that installed the Kings firmly on top, 92-77.
Continuing to pounce on SMB's spotty shooting and miscues, Ginebra went on to erect as much as a 121-90 spread.
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EJ Anosike paced the Beermen with 21 points while June Mar Fajardo added 17 points and 18 rebounds.
CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter each chipped in 16 points, but SMB's total 19 turnovers and 38-for-80 shooting from the field clearly told on their bid to seize the finally seize upper hand in the series. (NC)
The Scores :
GINEBRA 121 - Abarrientos 28, Thompson 22, Brownlee 18, J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Holt 9, Cu 4, Pinto 3, Adamos 2, Devance 2, Pessumal 2, R.Aguilar 2, Mariano 1.
SAN MIGUEL 92 - Anosike 21, Fajardo 17, Perez 16, Lassiter 16, Trollano 7, Ross 4, Enciso 4, Cruz 3, Brondial 2, Romeo 2, Nava 0, Tautuaa 0, Rosales 0.
QUARTERS : 34-33, 63-50, 92-79, 121-92
