Justin Brownlee captained the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s 127-99 decimation of the San Miguel Beermen to take a 1-0 lead in their 2018 Commissioner’s Cup Finals best-of-seven series, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The versatile forward finished with 42 points, including 29 in the first half alone where he steered the Gin Kings to a 19-point advantage, 66-47, in the second frame – a deficit from which the Beermen were never able to climb back.
Brownlee only missed twice in the 19 shots he took from the field, highlighted by a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. The two-time PBA champ also filled the stat sheet with nine assists, seven rebounds, and two blocks.
“Justin was his awesome self,” praised Ginebra head coach Tim Cone of Brownlee, who had a 46-point outburst back in the semifinals. “He seemed that way all the time… It just goes to show how tough he is to guard.”
Joe Devance supplied 20 points for the Barangay. Greg Slaughter and Mark Caguioa provided 11 points apiece, with the former adding seven rebounds to his name, while Sol Mercado chipped in 10 markers off the bench.
The Barangay seemed to channel their inner Golden State Warriors in the victory, as they shot an excellent 61.4 percent from the field. Their hot shooting lifted their lead to as high as 39, 119-80, in the closing minutes of the bout.
The Barangay also nailed 13 three-pointers in the win.
“Well, that was a surprise,” said Cone. “I think everybody was surprised by that game. It was just one of those nights where we had it and they didn’t. We were firing on all cylinders, that got them on their heels early and we didn’t let up.”
Renaldo Balkman led the Beermen with 27 points on top of 13 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. Christian Standhardinger nearly produced a double-double as he had a career-high 26 points and eight rebounds.
June Mar Fajardo got limited to 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Game Two is on Sunday, July 29, at 6:30pm at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
Ginebra 127 – Brownlee 42, Devance 20, Slaughter 11, Caguioa 11, Mercado 10, Tenorio 9, Thompson 7, Ferrer 7, Mariano 4, Chan 2, Cruz 2, J. Aguilar 2, Manuel 2.
San Miguel 99 – Balkman 27, Standhardinger 26, Fajardo 13, Santos 8, Lassiter 6, Cabagnot 5, Nabong 5, Ross 4, Lanete 3, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Pessumal 0.
Quarterscores: 35-20, 69-50, 94-75, 127-99.
