Stanley Pringle once again proved to be the difference for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, as they fought long-time rivals Magnolia Hotshots in Game One of their 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal series Saturday night.
The league’s reigning scoring champion provided ample support to the heavily-guarded Justin Brownlee, as he scored 18 points, four rebounds, and two assists in 41 minutes to help the Gin Kings register the 85-79 victory.
Two of his points came with 2:44 left to lay, where he sank a tough shot all over the defense of Rakeem Christmas. That shot was the penultimate blow by the defending champions in their 8-2 scoring blitz that finished the match.
Pringle of course feels glad to have gotten the win — it was his first playoff win with the Barangay.
“It feels good,” said the Fil-American guard, who was averaging 16.8 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in his first five games with Ginebra, numbers which seemingly show that he has been adjusting to his new home nicely.
The five-year pro out of Penn State, however, is quick to put the victory behind him, as his sights are now set in Game Two on Tuesday, July 23 — a win would finish the best-of-three series and will push them to the semifinals.
“The job’s not done so not really thinking much of it. Just on to the next game,” said the 32-year-old Pringle.
“I’m not really thinking about anything else. Just worry about Game Two. [We will] touch up on a couple of mistakes we did on defense, fix a couple of rotations … I’m just focused on the game and Game Two.”
