The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel have given their playoff hopes in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup a huge boost as they tore Magnolia Hotshots apart in a Manila Clasico affair, 104-84, Sunday night at SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Barangay have now collected their second straight win to hike their card to 3-5. The Hotshots, meanwhile, have now lost their fourth game in five outings and have went down to 4-5, tied at fifth with the Columbian Dyip.
This is now the sixth straight win by Ginebra over Magnolia overall and seventh straight in the eliminations, according to the league’s head statistician Fidel Mangonon. Moreover, this is the most lopsided Manila Clasico since the Barangay’s 89-66 win back in the 2015 Philippine Cup eliminations.
“We played our best game of the conference, obviously,” exhaled Ginebra head coach Tim Cone. “We get a little bit more comfortable and back to where we are… We’re feeling a lot better, we know what we wanna do defensively.”
Justin Brownlee had been nothing but superb, leading the Gin Kings with 35 big points along with eight rebounds and four assists. LA Tenorio had his best game of the conference so far with 22 points, six boards, and five dimes.
After a tight battle early on that saw both teams locked at 44 at the half, the Barangay started to pull away late in the third canto. Back-to-back triples courtesy of Brownlee and Tenorio gave them a 79-65 lead at the end of the frame.
The onslaught then continued in the game’s final chapter. Six unanswered points — punctuated by a Joe Devance jumper — crushed Magnolia further as it elevated Ginebra’s lead to a game-high 24 points, 102-78, with 3:38 left to play.
“I’ll go to the locker room and tell our guys that we played our best game of the conference, and we gotta play our best game of the conference next game too,” added Cone, also noting that the Barangay are all in playoff mode now.
Greg Slaughter chipped in 12 markers and 14 rebounds in the victory. Japeth Aguilar supplied 11 points, while Scottie Thompson flirted with a double-double as he produced eight points on five shots with 11 rebounds.
Ginebra though lost Sol Mercado in the match after apparently taking an elbow. The wide-bodied guard was seen writhing in pain while pressing his chest in the 5:02-mark of the fourth and had never been checked back in the match.
Mercado played for just 22 minutes and left the game with four points, three steals, a rebound and a block.
Justin Jackson paced Magnolia with 21 points and 15 rebounds with four assists. Jio Jalalon made 17 points, seven boards, four steals and three assists, while Paul Lee chimed in 16 markers spiked by three treys.
Ginebra will look to make it three straight versus Columbian on Wednesday, June 20, 7:00 PM still at the Big Dome, while Magnolia will aim to bounce back versus NLEX on July 4, Wednesday, 7:00 PM at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
Ginebra 104 – Brownlee 35, Tenorio 22, Slaughter 12, Aguilar J. 11, Thompson 8, Ferrer 6, Devance 4, Mercado 4, Manuel 2, Caguioa 0, Cruz 0, Taha 0, Caperal 0, Aguilar R. 0.
Magnolia 84 – Jackson 21, Jalalon 17, Lee 16, Barroca 13, Brondial 6, Dela Rosa 4, Melton 3, Reavis 2, Pascual 2, Ramos 0, Herndon 0.
Quarterscores: 25-17; 44-44; 79-65; 104-84.
