A wonderful Christmas gift for their die-hards.
The Barangay Ginebra Kings delivered this in the form of a cliffhanger win after a stirring chase from 22 points down in their Christmas Manila Clasico showdown with the Magnolia Hotshots at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Big bombs after big bombs from afar at endgame highlighted another great display of never-say-die spirit for the Gin Kings sending the team to a 95-92 thriller of a win over the Hotshots and to solo fifth in the leaderboard just before the holiday breather.
After battling back into contention from a 22-point deficit in the third, the Gin Kings pushed their bid with connections from beyond the arc, with the biggest one coming from Scottie Thompson to shatter a 92-all deadlock at the buzzer.
The Kings bounced back from a loss the last time out and improved to 4-2 while handing the Hotshots a fifth defeat against only two losses.
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Back-to-back treys by RJ Abarrientos and Maverick Ahanmisi sparked the Kings' final salvo also marked a later by Justin Brownlee's own back-to-back before Thompson uncorked the game-winner in a stirring Christmas Day come-from-behind win for coach Tim Cone and his troops.
Before the Gin Kings seized the lead at 86-84 in the last 4:10 mark, they played catch-up basketball all throughout since a 6-2 upperhand in the get-go.
Thompson was 1-of-4 from the arc before coming through with his heroics that preserved the job started by Abarrientos and Brownlee.
Brownlee went 5-of-6 on three balls and finished with 28 points plus seven rebounds and five assists as Abarrientos also fired away five triples and ended up with 20 markers going with five assists, three steals and one block.
Troy Rosario also had a productive performance with 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists while having his turns defending against Magnolia import Ricardo Ratliffe.
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Then there's Thompson winding up with 14 markers on top of six dole-outs and five boards.
Japeth Aguilar was back in action from a bout with a groin injury, and contributed eight points and three rebounds.
Ratliffe, Mark Barroca, Paul Lee and Ian Sangalanga led the losing side with at least 11 points each. (SB)
The scores:
Ginebra 95 - Brownlee 28, Abarrientos 20, Rosario 15, Thompson 14, Aguilar 8, Holt 5, Ahanmisi 5, Tenorio 0, Cu 0, Mariano 0.
Magnolia 92 - Ratliffe 17, Barroca 13, Lee 11, Sangalang 11, Lucero 8, Dela Rosa 8, Balanza 7, Dionisio 6, Lastimosa 6, Abueva 5, Ahanmisi 0.
Quarterscores: 24-30, 41-55, 67-78, 95-92
