Lucena truly is Ginebra country!
Playing in front of a jam-packed Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City, the crowd virtually pushed Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to a strong opening half flurry and, later on, willed them to withstand the San Miguel Beermen. When the dust had cleared, Ginebra were left standing, taking a 124-118 overtime win to knot the Finals series, 1-1, Sunday evening
“The only thing we did good is we were resilient. We fought with the ups and downs, and we continued to battle, we found a way to put it into overtime,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
Sophomore Scottie Thompson powered Ginebra with a near triple-double effort. The Davaoeño finished the game with 18 points, 18 rebounds, and eight assists. And his mentor was not surprised with his heroics for the Barangay.
“I’m not surprised. He did not have a good first game… We designed some plays to get him going early, he hit a couple of shots that jumped his game into another level,” Cone remarked. “Guards were really boxing him out, but Scottie found a way today. He found a way to get around them and get those rebounds. Amazing, amazing guy. There’s just nobody like him”
Behind Thompson and Joe Devance, Ginebra were able to seize a 118-112 lead in overtime. However, Ronald Tubid, who stepped up for Marcio Lassiter, knocked down back-to-back triples to tie the game with 1:40 left.
Chris Ross, who finished the game with 16 points and 11 assists, had a chance to retake the lead for San Miguel but Devance swatted away his attempt. The defensive specialist then committed his sixth foul of the game, leading to free throws for Japeth Aguilar. A breakaway layup by Thompson and a dagger by Sol Mercado with 33 ticks left sealed the epic win for Ginebra.
Japeth Aguilar added 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Devance added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
Arwind Santos paced San Miguel with 23 points on 26 attempts to go along with 15 boards. He led San Miguel’s comeback, rallying them from a 26-point deficit late in the second quarter to gain a 110-108 lead with 3.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
Devance was not to be denied, though, as he rebounded his own miss and scooped in a buzzer-beater that sent the game into extra time.
“We played absolutely perfect basketball in the first half. We played as badly in the first half of Game 1 that we did as good in Game Two. We were awesome in Game Two in the first half. But San Miguel is such a great team, and we have to be at our very, very, very best of our game to beat this team,” Cone reflected.
Ginebra shot an outstanding 51 percent from the field and were able to out-rebound San Miguel, 58-52. But the Beermen knocked down 17 triples in the game that helped buck their sluggish start.
Marcio Lassiter finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-10 from deep. However, San Miguel’s sniper was disqualified from the game after being assessed with his second technical foul for taunting Sol Mercado.
Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo was limited to just 10 points on five shot attempts.
“June Mar, he fouled out, but Arwind was awesome, Chris Ross is playing an awesome series, and he’s been playing awesome all year. [Alex] Cabagnot [too]. We were lucky and fortunate that Lassiter was thrown out, so we had some good fortune shine on us, but we still had to battle,” Cone added.
Ginebra are 7-4 playing in Lucena, having won their last three. San Miguel are 3-3.
Game Three of the Finals is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 28, at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
“I expect two very tired teams to play, and both teams are going to have to reach deep into their benches,” Cone predicted for Game Three.
The Scores:
Ginebra (124) – Aguilar 23, Ferrer 21, Thompson 18, Devance 16, Tenorio 15, Mercado 11, Ellis 8, Marcelo 6, Cruz 4, Taha 2.
San Miguel (118) – Santos 23, Lassiter 21, Ross 16, Tubid 16, Cabagnot 13, Espinas 13, Fajardo 10, Heruela 4, De Ocampo 2, Agovida 0, Reyes 0.
Quarterscores: 28-20, 67-43, 85-82, 110-110, 124-118.
