For the second time in three seasons, Barangay Ginebra crushed San Miguel Beer's grand slam dream.
Fighting for their own aspiration to reclaim the PBA Governors Cup crown, the Gin Kings gutted it out to beat out the Beermen, 100-97, and claim a place in the Final Four of the season-ending tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
Justin Brownlee exploded for 41 points on top of 11 rebounds, Stanley Pringle had his clutch conversions at the finish while Japeth Aguilar grabbed crucial offensive rebounds as the Kings advanced and in the process ended SMB's hopes to win the last jewel that would have completed its Triple Crown bid.
It was a repeat of San Miguel's story in the 2016-17 season where the Beermen contended for a grand slam but their hopes were crushed by the Kings in their Governors Cup quarterfinals match-up.
The Kings played up to their higher seeding versus the Beermen, with the fourth-ranked GSM squad making the semifinals opposite the winner of the NLEX-NorthPort quarters matchup.
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"It feels good to get a win. That's a good team (we beat)," said Brownlee, the marquee import leading the Kings to back-to-back Governors Cup championship in 2016 and 2017.
"We came out with the mentality to finish the game," said Brownlee as they finished off the Beermen at the first of their two cracks at the semis.
With the tourney taking a break to give way to the coming SEA Games, the Kings will enjoy some breather before playing either the Road Warriors or the Batang Pier in a semis face-off.
"We'll try to rest a bit while at the same time trying to keep the momentum going to the semis," said Brownlee.
The Beermen led by eight in the fourth but Brownlee rallied the Kings back into the game and himself drained a big trey that pushed Ginebra back in the lead to stay at 96-95.
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In the next play, LA Tenorio deflected an SMB possession leading to a breakaway layup by Pringle as the Kings effectively scuttled the Beermen's grand slam drive.
The Beermen actually had a chance to salvage the game but John Holland committed a grievous turnover with 26 seconds to go.
Then at 100-97, Brownlee and the Kings put up defensive stops to come through with the three-point decision.(SB)
The scores:
Ginebra 100 - Brownlee 41, Pringle 24, Tenorio 12, Chan 6, Aguilar 6, Slaughter 5, Thompson 4, Dela Cruz 2, Devance 0.
San Miguel 97 - Fajardo 24, Holland 20, Tautuaa 12, Cabagnot 11, Lassiter 10, Romeo 8, Ross 7, Pessumal 3, Rosser 0.
Quarterscores: 23-23, 54-58, 78-83, 100-97.
