PLAYING with great resolve and purpose, Barangay Ginebra smothered Rain or Shine, 120-92, and improved a rung up to sixth place in the PBA Commissioner's Cup elims at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo Wednesday night.
Justin Brownlee and his teammates fashioned out an adorable performance, leading to a dominant wire-to-wire win over a surprisingly flat Rain or Shine side.
And coupled with Terrafirma's 117-108 upset of TNT earlier in the day, the Gin Kings' 28-point rout of Rain or Shine caused a major shakeup in the leaderboard heading to the homestretch of the single-round-robin elims.
Converge (8-3) and NorthPort (8-3) took pole spot as TNT slid to fifth place at 6-3. At joint third are Eastern (7-3) and Meralco (7-3) as Ginebra (7-4) traded spots with Rain or Shine (6-4).
But it remains a wide-open race for the Top Two and the twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals among the lead bunch as San Miguel Beer (4-6), Magnolia (4-6) and NLEX (4-6) figure in their own wild rumble for the eighth and last quarterfinals berth.
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Sealed on Ginebra's victory No. 7 is a guaranteed slot in the post-elims play.
The Gin Kings chase an 8-4 closing card in their final game against the Meralco Bolts. Doing so will assure them of at least a berth in the best-of-three quarterfinals.
From a loss to TNT the last time, Ginebra made a big turnaround, tearing apart Rain or Shine with a heckuva job led by Brownlee with 29 points and 13 rebounds plus six assists.
Scottie Thompson put in 22 markers with eight dish-offs and six boards while Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos chipped in 14 points apiece and Japeth Aguilar added 12 markers and eight boards.
The E-Painters shot a high 48.4 percent from the three-point area but struggled badly in the overall scheme of things, thus, falling down to seventh with a third loss in their last four games.
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They need to sweep their last two assignments to avoid a seventh-place finish and a twice-to-beat disadvantage in the quarters. (SB)
The scores:
Ginebra 120 - Brownlee 29, S. Thompson 22, Rosario 14, Abarrientos 14, J. Aguilar 12, Malonzo 9, Holt 8, R. Aguilar 4, Mariano 3, Pessumal 3, Ahanmisi 2, Pinto 0, Adamos 0, Cu 0.
Rain or Shine 92 - D. Thompson 23, Asistio 14, Nocum 13, Clarito 12, Tiongson 7, Belga 7, Caracut 6, Malonzo 4, Lemetti 3, Demusis 2, Santillan 1, Norwood 0, Datu 0.
Quarterscores: 30-23, 66-45, 91-72, 120-92
