The eight-year drought is now down to one more victory!
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel move closer to their desperately-coveted championship with a 92-81 win against the Meralco Bolts in Game 5 of the Finals series in a packed Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday evening.
“We played our best game of the series,” claimed head coach Tim Cone after the game.
And rightfully so, as the the crowd favorites used a wire-to-wire win to push them to the biggest margin for a victory this series.
Justin Brownlee finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. Japeth Aguilar added 16 points, while Joe Devance had 11 markers and eight boards to aid Ginebra to this win.
A locked-in Ginebra started the game on the right foot with a blistering run. Behind the hot shooting of Brownlee, the Barangay jumped out to a big lead in the first half. Moreover, the reinforcement was easily able to surpass his 10-point Game Four outing, scoring 13 points in the first 12 minutes of the game.
Ginebra led by as high as 21 points in a dominant 65 percent clip in the first two periods.
The two teams then went on a back-and-forth exchange during the third quarter that saw the Bolts heavily rely on the inside presence of Allen Durham. On the flip side, Ginebra’s local crew stepped up to answer the call to counter Meralco. In addition, the crowd woke up after Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa made the last five points of the third to restore a double-digit cushion for Ginebra heading into the fourth.
Meralco turned up the aggression in the final frame as they continuously challenged Ginebra’s front line. Because of this, Ginebra were in the penalty just three minutes in the quarter. The troika of Durham, Jimmy Alapag, and Reynel Hugnatan then pushed the Bolts to within 82-77 with three minutes left in the game.
Fortunately for Ginebra, Alapag and Sol Mercado converted triples for a six-point run. After Meralco answered with four quick points, Mercado rushed to their side but seemed to shuffle his feet in the process. The referees failed to see the error, while Ginebra took advantage of a rattled Meralco defense that led to the game-sealing triple by Scottie Thompson.
“We’re gonna keep our eggs in one basket,” Cone added. “They’re really tough (Meralco). It seems like we were there to take them apart and when we do, they fight back. Every game is really back to the drawing board.”
But the coach stressed that the team has to be laser-focused and not give signs of life to the Bolts due to the volatility of the series.
“I’m not big on those stats. I’ve been series wherein we led 3-2 and we lost,” he added. “Stats don’t mean anything. It’s nice to look at it that way, but whey will try to win back-to-back.”
Durham had a monstrous 20-point, 18-rebound effort in the loss, but struggled making his foul shots, going just 4-of-9 from the stripe. Hugnatan finished with 17 points and three 3-pointers.
Ginebra look to end their odyssey on Wednesday in Game 6, 7:00pm at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
Ginebra (92) – Brownlee 29, Aguilar 16, Devance 11, Caguioa 8, Mercado 8, Tenorio 7, Thompson 5, Cruz 2.
Meralco (81) – Durham 20, Hugnatan 17, Hodge 10, Newsome 10, Alapag 8, Uyloan 6, Al-Hussaini 4, Amer 4, Nabong 2, Caram 0, Faundo 0.
Quarterscores: 33-19, 54-39, 73-59, 92-81
