ANTIPOLO — With experience proving to be the difference, Ginebra booked a return trip to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals after disposing of Rain or Shine, 118-107, in Game 6 of the semis, Sunday at the Ynares Center here.
The Kings erupted for 38 big points in the second chapter, weathered the Elasto Painters’ storm in the third, and then closed it out in style behind the usual suspects as they, simply put, no longer wanted to play in a Game 7.
Justin Brownlee nailed the booming trey to push their lead to a decade with 3:10 to go, then came RJ Abarrientos, Scottie Thompson, and Japeth Aguilar with hits of their own to finish it off, as the Elasto Painters fizzled out.
That, of course, was much to the delight of the sold-out, pro-Ginebra crowd in attendance, as the traditional contenders cruised their way into the title round, where they will be taking on either defending champions TNT or Meralco.
Both the MVP teams will be playing their own Game 6 later in the night, with the Tropang 5G keen on closing it out as they hold the 3-2 series lead.
(C) PBA Images
“We didn’t want to play a Game 7 against a Yeng Guiao team,” said Coach Tim Cone. “That would’ve been a disaster for us. We put all our eggs in one basket and went after this game tonight because we didn’t want to play a Game 7.”
Brownlee top-scored for Ginebra with 31 points and 15 rebounds with five assists. Abarrientos delivered 30 points on top of six rebounds and seven assists as the two combined for 60-plus points for the second straight game.
Thompson supplied a 16-6-6 stat line, with Ralph Cu proving the spark off the bench once more by coming through with 11 points on three triples.
“RJ and Justin… they had the opportunity to kinda take a break today and maybe just focus on Game 7, but they really came out with a lot of determination and a lot of desire tonight, and it paid off,” Cone said.
“We’re in the Finals. That was the big thing. We knew that if we could get this one, we’d be in the Finals. That’s what we went for,” he continued.
(C) PBA Images
Jaylen Johnson led Rain or Shine with 27 points and 14 rebounds, while Gian Mamuyac punched in 25 in the loss that ended a promising campaign, which started with a 7-0 run before locking up the no. 3 seed entering the playoffs.
It was the same tandem that led the charge after the break, combining for 21 to help put together a huge 40-point showing to claw back from down 62-45.
They got as close as two points, 96-94, early in the deciding period and still managed to keep in step later on, but could only do so much as the crowd-fueled Barangay just had more firepower to eventually put it away.
Adrian Nocum supplied 16 points, Caelan Tiongson made 12, while Anton Asistio added 10 as the troika helped out in their second-half fightback.
But that wasn’t enough, and it didn’t help that Jhonard Clarito got held to just six points as the defense checked one of RoS’ best players this series.
The Scores:
Ginebra 118 – Brownlee 31, Abarrientos 30, Thompson 16, Cu 11, Go 9, Holt 6, Gray 5, Rosario 4, J.Aguilar 4, Pinto 2.
Rain or Shine 107 – Johnson 27, Mamuyac 25, Nocum 16, Tiongson 12, Asistio 10, Santillan 6, Clarito 6, David 3, Malonzo 2, Manaytay 0, Caracut 0.
Quarterscores: 22-22, 60-45, 93-85, 118-107.
