Barangay Ginebra San Miguel took down visiting Korean ball club Jeonju KCC Egis in a tuneup match, 98-78, Tuesday afternoon at the Upper Deck Sports Center in Ortigas, Pasig City.
Justin Brownlee was nothing short of impressive, firing 36 points — 22 in the opening frame alone — to lead Ginebra.
Greg Slaughter was a force to be reckoned with inside the paint as he finished with 18 markers.
“We played outstanding tonight,” said coach Tim Cone. “We shot the ball well, we moved the ball well, we defended well. … They did not shoot the ball well, they missed a lot of open ones.
“We were fortunate in that. But we played well. It’s just one of those games that we played great, they didn’t play great so we were able to beat them in a lopsided score,” Cone furthered.
It was all Gin Kings right from the get-go as they jumped to a 29-12 edge early, and they would lead by as many as 25 points, 48-23, after an Aljon Mariano bucket with 5:10 left in the second.
KCC managed to trim the deficit to just 14, 65-79, with 7:26 remaining in the fourth, but Art Dela Cruz, Brownlee, and Slaughter restored order as the Barangay cruised to the 20-point victory.
Import Leon Williams had 22 points to lead KCC Egis, which is in the country to prepare for the East Asia Super League’s The Terrific 12 set on September 17-22 in Macau, China.
Ginebra is set to play another tuneup on Friday versus another Korean team in LG Sakers, which it will face once more in the Asian Showdown 2 on September 17 also at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Ginebra is using all of these tuneup games to gear up for the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup that opens next week.
Quarterscores: 34-17, 52-33, 73-58, 98-78.
