Justin Brownlee was stellar yet again as Barangay Ginebra dealt Bay Area its first loss of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup through a resounding 111-93 victory before a partisan crowd at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, Sunday night.
The two-time Best Import finished with 46 points, 18 of which he fired in the third quarter alone. He spearheaded the breakaway that eventually led to the Dragons’ demise after an impressive 4-0 start into the conference.
He shot 65-percent from the floor and had 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals as the Kings spoiled the debut of Andrew Nicholson for the guest team.
“I don’t think we did anything special. We didn’t do any zones or stuff like that. We just played our basic defense, and played it really, really well. I thought the intensity level of our team was sky-high,” said head coach Tim Cone.
“That was really the key to playing them. That felt like a Finals game to us. It really did. And I had that feeling all the way through the day. You asked earlier if we were motivated, and yes, we were motivated,” he added.
Jamie Malonzo showed up with 17 points, while Christian Standhardinger tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds. And he gave Ginebra its biggest lead of the game at 28, 100-72, through a drive with less than seven minutes left.
Stanley Pringle chimed in 10 markers in the win that also gave Jeremiah Gray a triumphant PBA debut as he recovered from an ACL injury.
The Barangay shot 47-percent from the field, but it was their defense that proved the difference. They limited Bay Area to below a three-digit output.
“That’s certainly the best part of what we did tonight, our defense. We really wanted to come out and try to defend,” said Cone.
The Kings (2-1) will try to make it three in a row against Phoenix Super LPG on Friday, October 14, at 5:45 PM. at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Meanwhile, Nicholson led the Dragons with 28 points and 12 rebounds, though he apparently felt worn out come the second half. He only scored two in a tough loss during his first gig as the substitute for fellow ex-NBA cager Myles Powell.
Glen Yang provided support with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Kobey Lam added 13 in their first defeat since arriving in the country last August. The EASL-bound team won all of its games, including tuneups, prior to Sunday.
Bay Area will be put to the test again as it takes on reigning conference champs San Miguel Beer next Sunday, October 16, 4:30 PM at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
Ginebra 111 – Brownlee 46, Malonzo 17, Standhardinger 11, Pringle 10, Thompson 8, J.Aguilar 5, Gray 5, Pessumal 3, Onwubere 2, Tenorio 2, Pinto 2, R.Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.
Bay Area 93 – Nicholson 28, Yang 15, Lam 13, Blankley 8, Liu 8, Ewing 8, Si 5, Reid 4, Zhu 2, Zheng 2, Song 0, Liang 0, Ju 0.
Quarterscores: 26-28, 50-48, 85-66, 111-93.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
