Ginebra made quick work of NLEX, 127-93, to complete half of the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Kings broke away in the second quarter, pouring 38 big points for a 56-36 halftime lead to coast to the lopsided victory as they took full advantage of the Road Warriors’ missing import Wayne Selden due to a foot sprain.
“The game would have been a lot, lot different with Selden there,” offered head coach Tim Cone. “I commiserate with Frankie [Lim] and that group because it’s really tough to lose your import going to the playoffs.”
Justin Brownlee finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists to lead the reigning champions, who will take on San Miguel in a best-of-5 affair.
“As for this five-game series, we’re playing well, but San Miguel is probably playing best in the league right now. They’re playing really well,” Cone said.
BPC frontrunner Christian Standhardinger produced 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, together with eight rebounds.
Jamie Malonzo came through with 20 as well alongside six rebounds and five assists, while good pal Jamie Malonzo supplied 15 and 10.
Von Pessumal played his best game in a long while with 12 points as Scottie Thompson chimed in 10 markers, five boards, and seven dimes.
“The thing I’m proud about our guys is we didn’t leave anything for chance, we didn’t go down and let up. We stayed aggressive,” Cone said.
Leading the all-Filipino NLEX, meanwhile, was Sean Anthony with 16 points in the loss that marked another playoff exit at Ginebra’s hands.
The Scores:
Ginebra 127 – Brownlee 31, Standhardinger 20, Malonzo 20, Gray 15, Pessumal 12, Thompson 10, Mariano 10, Pringle 5, Pinto 4, Onwubere 0, R. Aguilar 0, David 0.
NLEX 93 – Anthony 16, Alas 15, Trollano 14, Ganuelas-Rosser 14, Rosales 11, Semerad 10, Miranda 7, Doliguez 4, Nieto 2, Pascual 0, Gabo 0.
Quarterscores: 18-17, 56-36, 93-62, 127-93.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
