Barangay Ginebra Sam Miguel took care of business and finished off the NorthPort Batang Pier, 120-107, to book the first ticket to the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, Friday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Gin Kings have placed themselves in prime position to win their third Governors’ Cup title in four years. They’d aimed for a three-peat last season, but the Magnolia Hotshots spoiled their plans.
This also marks the return of the crowd darlings to the Big Dance since the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup Finals, which they eventually won after dethroning rivals San Miguel Beermen in six games.
Ginebra now awaits the winner of the TNT-Meralco series for its foe in the Finals that starts on January 8. The KaTropa lead the Bolts 2-1, and have a chance to finish it off on Saturday.
“It’s good to be back in the Finals again,” expressed Ginebra head coach Tim Cone. “It’s been a while for us, about four conferences. We’ve gotten close, but we haven’t gotten over the hump.”
Justin Brownlee powered Ginebra with 36 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, and two blocks.
Japeth Aguilar produced 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, followed by LA Tenorio with 19. Stanley Pringle supplied 18 points, while Scottie Thompson had 14 markers and 10 boards.
“The thing I appreciate is our guys came out focused, ready. We didn’t take anything for granted. We had our game faces on from the very beginning,” lauded the multi-decorated Cone.
The Barangay had already asserted control of the match as early as the second quarter. Brownlee’s three-pointer had put them up by 22 points, 56-34, with 56 seconds on the clock.
Still, it faced resistance from the Batang Pier in the following frame, as the latter rallied and managed to trim the lead to just eight, 66-58, after Paolo Taha’s free throws with 6:54 remaining.
However, Greg Slaughter scored immediately, before Brownlee nailed back-to-back triples for an 8-0 run to extend the Barangay’s lead to 16 points, 74-58 with 4:14 to go in the period.
That restored order, and Ginebra applied the finishing touches in the final frame to walk away with the 13-point win.
“It’s good that we didn’t have to go to a fifth game. I’m just so happy that we didn’t have to go to a fifth game … We knew they had the character in them to play us,” Cone said.
Christian Standhardinger led NorthPort with 32 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists in the loss that ended the Batang Pier’s dream run, in which they won four knockout games en route to the semis.
Taha had a career-high 29 points, including 21 in the third alone, while import Michael Qualls had 25 points on 26 shots. Sean Anthony provided 18 markers, 10 rebounds, and six assists.
The Scores:
Ginebra 120 – Brownlee 36, Aguilar 20, Tenorio 19, Pringle 18, Thompson 14, Slaughter 6, Mariano 4, Chan 3, Dillinger 0.
NorthPort 107 – Standhardinger 32, Taha 29, Qualls 25, Anthony 18, Lanete 2, Elorde 1, Cruz 0, King 0, Escoto 0.
Quarterscores: 32-21, 56-39, 86-75, 120-107.
