The Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel had chances to ice the game in regulation, but needed extra time to score the 111-108 win against the pesky GlobalPort squad in a thrilling finish held at the Mall of Asia Arena.
After Orlando Johnson scored the game’s opening basket, GlobalPort answered with a 7-0 run sparked by their running game to hold the lead early. Jarrid Famous was an overpowering force against the smaller Dorian Peña, as he bullied his way down low with eight quick points in six minutes. Johnson responded to the reinforcement duel, as he also had the majority of the points of the Kings in the first minutes of the game.
Ginebra, meanwhile, paraded a new asian import in Jiwan Kim, the Korean scored his first basket off a catch and a pull up to trim the lead to 10-11. The Ginebra run was extended as they started to run down in transition, and Johnson completed a layup in the break to regain the lead at 18-17. However, it was GlobalPort who finished the opening quarter strong, as they outscored Ginebra 8-3 in the last two minutes, while also fishing for Greg Slaughter’s third personal foul.
Ginebra blasted an 8-0 run to start the second period and took the lead in the fast-paced ball game that signalled Batang Pier to call for a timeout. After beating the first quarter buzzer with a triple, LA Tenorio further increased their lead with another trey, while also finding his open teammates. On the other hand, Anthony Semerad broke the four-minute dry spell for GlobalPort with a three-point play of his own miss, but his squad was still down by seven at that point.
The reinsertion of Orlando Johnson was effective as the import anchored Ginebra’s offense to give them a double-digit lead in the middle of the second period. GlobalPort countered with their 12-0 run with Famous once again pouring in his dominance in the paint. Moreover, Famous tied the match at 45 points, but Ginebra outscored their opponents, 5-1 to enter the half up by four.
Ginebra maintained the lead at the start of the second half, but the duel between the imports continued as Famous and Johnson poured on the exchange of baskets particularly from the paint. Furthermore, GlobalPort had a hard time breaking into the four-point lead barrier as the Ginebra bigs played solid from the defensive end. LA Tenorio finished a break with less than three minutes to go in the third to make it 73-66. GlobalPort, however, finished on a 11-5 spree in the last two minutes of the frame to slice the lead to one heading to the payoff period.
After missing his first three attempts, Kim finally knocked down his first trey, but GlobalPort responded with four quick points to tie the game in the opening minutes of the fourth. The Batang Pier started to build on their rally as they led by three at one point with Famous banging down a mid range jumper at 93-90. After Ginebra build a 6-0 run, Stanley Pringle tied the game with a triple with 2:23 left in the ball game.
As the game was still tied at 98, Famous was thwarted by two Ginebra defenders that gave the possession back to the Kings. Japeth Aguilar would be fouled, then split his charities. Afterwards, Tenorio grabbed a crucial offensive rebound with 37 seconds left to play. In the next play, Johnson made one of two attempts from the foul stripe, but anchored the stop on the other end. The Ginebra reinforcement, once again, split his free throws that led to a Omar Krayem triple that tied the game at 101 with 5 ticks in regulation. Johnson then missed his potential game-winner that sent the game into overtime.
In the extension, the teams failed to score until the 2:30 mark, wherein Terrence Romeo and Johnson exchanged layups. After Krayem once again scored a triple from the same spot he hit during regulation, Caguioa answered back to give Ginebra the lead. On the ensuing play, Jensen was thwarted by Aguilar as the Ginebra big knocked down the game-sealing free throws en route to the win.
Ginebra improves to a 3-4 record while GlobalPort drops to 4-3. The Kings had more rebounds, 68-62, and assists, 21-12. Aguilar finished the game with 18 points, including 6-of-7 from the foul stripe, to go with his 13 rebounds and four rejections. Famous was also tremendous for the Batang Pier with 39 points and 28 rebounds in almost 50 minutes of playing time.
The Scores:
Ginebra(111) – Johnson 34, Aguilar 18, Helterbrand 13, Tenorio 12, Kim 11, Slaughter 7, Pena 2, Marcelo 2, Mercado 0, Brondial 0
GlobalPort(108) – Famous 39, Krayem 19, Romeo 18, Pringle 13, Jensen 5, Mamaril 4, Semerad 3, Buenafe 3, Hayes 2, Kramer 2, Isip 0, Miranda 0
Quarters: 21-25, 50-46, 78-77, 101-101, 111-108
