Justin Brownlee dropped a career-high 54 points to lead Ginebra in gutting out a 100-95 overtime win over TNT to move one win away from the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup title, Friday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The four-time Best Import dropped 22 in the last two periods, as the naturalized winger strapped the crowd darlings on his broad shoulders after staring at an 87-80 deficit with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.
He was also responsible for giving them the 94-92 lead with 2:39 to go in OT, before the locals took them home. RJ Abarrientos and Troy Rosario combined for the squad’s last six points on the way to taking the 3-2 lead in the series.
Following the onerous comeback against the defending champions, the Kings could close it out in Game 6 this Sunday in the Big Dome as well
(C) PBA Images
“As an import, you just gotta stay aggressive,” said Brownlee, who shot 59.5-percent from the field and also had 14 rebounds and five assists.
“I just wanted to stay aggressive for the team, you know. I know that the guys lean on me sometimes at certain moments, and I just wanted to do my part.”
Abarrientos finished with 13 points. Japeth Aguilar made 12 points, including a poster jam on Henry Galinato late in the second quarter, while Rosario added 10 points and seven rebounds in the win witnessed by 18,039 fans.
And the partisan pro-Ginebra audience energized Cone and his charges, especially in extra time. Momentum completely shifted their way, as evidenced by the 9-2 run they put together to finish the game.
“It didn’t look like it was our night, but we made it our night just through our grit. I’m really proud of our guys in that regard,” Coach Tim Cone said.
(C) PBA Images
Chris McCullough led TNT with 38 points and 16 rebounds in 51 minutes in the loss, the second time in a PBA Finals that he had to play 50-plus minutes.
The former NBA wing logged 57 minutes in Game 2 of the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup Finals. He finished with 32 points, 22 rebounds, and seven assists to lead San Miguel to a 127-125 double overtime win over, coincidentally, the KaTropa.
Roger Pogoy had 23 points and six rebounds as he helped out in their third-quarter run, in which they led by as many as 11 points. But the star winger struggled to produce offensively, especially in OT.
Jordan Heading was the only other player in double digits with 13 in the loss, which puts the Tropang 5G’s title defense bid in a dangerous situation.
The Scores:
Ginebra 100 – Brownlee 54, Abarrientos 13, J. Aguilar 12, Rosario 10, Thompson 6, Holt 2, Abis 2, Pinto 1, Torres 0, Cu 0, Gray 0.
TNT 95 – McCullough 38, Pogoy 23, Heading 13, Oftana 9, Castro 6, Rosser 2, Galinato 2, Nambatac 2, Williams 0, Khobuntin 0.
Quarterscores: 25-17, 48-50, 65-70, 89-89, 100-95.
