The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel had enough gas down the stretch as they outplayed the Star Hotshots in overtime, 105-101, to extend their winning streak to six, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The win, which was witnessed by 15,325 in attendance, improves Ginebra’s card to 6-1, and they become the second team next to NLEX to qualify for the playoffs. The Hotshots, meanwhile, absorbed their second straight loss and dropped to 4-2.
Furthermore, the Gin Kings now have the upper hand in the Clasico series, as they have won seven of the 10 games. Ginebra now have the most number of games won over Star in the last 10 seasons, 29-28.
“Wow, that was a tough game,” said a relieved Ginebra head coach Tim Cone. “At the end of the game our guys were just absolutely exhausted. That’s a really quick team, they’re playing like five guards out there.”
Justin Brownlee anchored the Barangay with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, while Greg Slaughter added 17 points and 11 boards.
The Barangay had to endure misfortunes in the game. They had the chance to widen their 93-92 lead and ice the game with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Scottie Thompson muffed both of his free throws.
Split charities by Brownlee and Joe Devance gave them a 95-92 lead with 2.5 ticks left, but Japeth Aguilar made a sorry mistake by inadvertently fouling Star import Malcolm Hill, who was in the act of shooting from the three-point line.
The 21-year-old, despite all the pressure by the Barangay, calmly sank all of his three freebies with six-tenths of a second left. Brownlee missed a trey on the other end, sending the game into an extra five minutes of play.
The Hotshots were trading blows with the Barangay in overtime, until Hill was whistled for his sixth foul with less than a minute left to play. Devance then made another split to lift the Gin Kings to a slim 103-101 cushion.
An Aguilar tip-in off a Brownlee bucket proved to be Ginebra’s final blow to completely knock out Star.
“Chito [Victolero, Star head coach] came out and had a really good game plan, we battled it, we talked about their game plan. It was a struggle all the way through,” added Cone on the win.
Tenorio added 13 points, while Joe Devance flirted with a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Scottie Thompson grabbed 11 rebounds as well.
Hill led Star with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Paul Lee made 22 markers, while Mark Barroca had 14 points, five boards, and four assists. Rafi Reavis and Ian Sangalang scored 10 apiece, and combined for 19 caroms.
Ginebra shot 48 percent, but their woes were their free throws, as they only managed to punch 12 of the 30 attempts they had.
“We struggled with our free throw shooting,” rued Cone. “Back to the drawing board on free throw shooting.”
Ginebra will look to sustain their streak against the Blackwater Elite on Friday, September 8, 7:00 PM at the Mall of Asia Arena. Star, on the other hand, will face the Meralco Bolts on Saturday, September 9, 5:00 PM at Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The Scores:
Ginebra 105 – Brownlee 33, Devance 17, Slaughter 17, Tenorio 13, Aguilar 12, Thompson 7, Ferrer 4, Taha 2, Mercado 0, Cruz 0.
Star 101 – Hill 28, Lee 22, Barroca 14, Ramos 11, Sangalang 10, Reavis 10, Maliksi 4, Jalalon 2, Melton 0, Simon 0, Pingris 0.
Quarterscores: 21-25, 40-45, 73-70, 95-95, 105-101.
