Justin Brownlee and his heroics proved pivotal yet again for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, as he hit big shots when needed to tow his team to a down-the-wire, 103-102 victory on Sunday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“That’s just Justin being Justin, he’s just an intelligent player, so intelligent,” lauded Barangay head coach Tim Cone of his import, who helped them keep their streak alive in five games now to send their card to 5-1.
Brownlee led his pack and finished with a game-high 37 points on 13-of-25 shooting, to go with 14 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and four blocks in 40 minutes of action, for an all-around effort.
The Aces, once down by as much as 13, 72-59, in the third canto, exploded for a stunning 25-8 scoring spree capped by a jumper and a top-of-the-key trey by Cory Jefferson to get ahead, 101-95, still with 3:09 left in the payoff period.
The Barangay though fought back from the six-point deficit, receiving a lay-up from Joe Devance and a booming corner triple from rookie Kevin Ferrer to close within just a solitary point, 101-100, with 2:13 remaining.
A Chris Banchero split with 19 ticks left widened Alaska’s lead, 102-100. But after that, Brownlee took matters into his own hands, unleashing his heroics via three-point play conversion with 7.2 seconds to go to lift Ginebra up, 103-102.
Alaska still had enough time to draw up a play and possibly win the match, but a missed jumper by Jefferson and a missed three-pointer by Jvee Casio from the right wing with 2.3 seconds left sealed the win for the Barangay.
“We certainly battled through a lot of adversity in that game. We made it through the last six minutes without a timeout, and down the stretch that made it difficult,” the multi-titled mentor said.
“But guys are used to playing down the stretch and making plays, and they did that both on offense and defense,” added Cone regarding the down-the-wire win.
The Japeth Aguilar-less Barangay also received support from Devance with 12 markers on nine shots; and LA Tenorio and Scottie Thompson, who each supplied 11 points. The latter added 11 rebounds and six dimes in his stat line.
The Aces, who played without Calvin Abueva and Carl Cruz due to national cause, were led by Jefferson with 25 points alongside 18 rebounds. Vic Manuel and Casio produced 13 and 12, respectively, in their third straight loss.
Free throws displayed a huge disparity between the two squads. The Barangay shot 21-of-29 from the stripe, but the Aces only shot 7-of-11 from the line.
Ginebra will look to extend their streak to six as they face Rain or Shine on May 19, Friday, 7:00 PM at the Cuneta Astrodome, while Alaska will look to get back on track versus TNT on May 20, Saturday, 5:00 PM at Legazpi City, Albay.
The Scores:
Ginebra (103) – Brownlee 37, Devance 12, Tenorio 11, Thompson 11, Caguioa 10, Ferrer 6, Mercado 6, Ellis 6, Marcelo 4, Cruz 0.
Alaska (102) – Jefferson 25, Manuel 13, Casio 12, Thoss 9, Banchero 9, Hontiveros 9, Racal 8, Exciminiano 7, Enciso 6, Pascual 4, Andrada 0, Mendoza 0.
Quarterscores: 32-30, 57-56, 87-76, 103-102.
