The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel weathered the late surge by the San Miguel Beermen, 129-124, to hand the Grand Slam-seeking squad its first loss in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Justin Brownlee posted his second straight triple-double with 28 points, 14 rebounds, and the same number of assists to lead the crowd darlings in the win that hiked their card to 2-2.
Stanley Pringle also made his presence felt with 27 points, six rebounds, and six assists, LA Tenorio supplied 19 points and four dimes, while Japeth Aguilar provided 17 points.
Shooter Jeff Chan and Art Dela Cruz chimed in 15 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Barangay.
“What a challenge it is to play that team. But that’s why we play basketball: for those challenges,” said coach Tim Cone.
“We have been a team that’s very schizophrenic. We’ve been playing one good half, then a bad half, and a good half. This is the first time that we’ve put two good halves together.”
The Gin Kings nearly lost hold of an 18-point third quarter lead as the Beermen ran back and got to within just two points, 113-111, after a Von Pessumal-led rally with 4:26 left to play.
But Brownlee came up big once more, converting a three-point play that sparked the Barangay’s 8-0 run that got them to safer grounds, 123-114, with 2:09 on the game clock.
SMB fought one last time when it knocked to within just three twice inside the last 28.5 seconds, but Pringle’s freebies with 11.3 ticks left settled the final count and sealed the win.
“When they get it going, it’s like the floodgates are all open and the water’s rushing, you don’t know what to do … Real proud of our guys for figuring their way through that,” Cone lauded.
Import Dez Wells lit up the scoreboard and paced the Beermen with 52 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals in the defeat that ended their unbeaten run to three.
June Mar Fajardo had 16 points and 17 rebounds, Marcio Lassiter had 16 as well in his second game back from a knee injury, as Alex Cabagnot and Chris Ross had 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
Both teams will play again next Sunday still at the Big Dome. SMB will face Columbian at 4:30 p.m. while Ginebra will figure in yet another Manila Clasico affair with Magnolia at 6:45 p.m.
The Scores:
Ginebra 129 – Brownlee 28, Pringle 27, Tenorio 19, Aguilar 17, Chan 15, Dela Cruz 11, Slaughter 8, Mariano 4, Thompson 0.
San Miguel 124 – Wells 52, Fajardo 16, Lassiter 16, Cabagnot 13, Ross 10, Pessumal 9, Santos 7, Standhardinger 2, Nabong 0.
Quarterscores: 35-32, 71-59, 96-85, 129-124.
