It was heart-wrenching for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel to see their two-year dominance in the PBA Governors’ Cup crumble.
The Gin Kings saw their reign come to an end Friday night. They lost to the Romeo Travis-powered Magnolia Hotshots, 108-112, in Game Four of their best-of-five semifinal series at a jam-packed Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
‘They outplayed us from the first minutes of the series all the way through,” conceded head coach Tim Cone.
The thrilling end-game was something of a microcosm of how Magnolia got the best of the Barangay in the series. The Gin Kings were seen as the favorites to conquer their rivals due to their experience in the season-ending tilt.
The Gin Kings already had a five-point lead with 1:44 left, as Justin Brownlee made both of his freebies. But Jio Jalalon’s own free throws and a big three-point play by Travis with 44 seconds left wiped out their lead.
Magnolia used the play by Travis – which got him his 50th point of the match – to hang on to for the win.
“They played great.
“We were on fumes down the stretch. In the fourth quarter, our guys were tired. We had and had spent a lot of energy coming back in the game before. And we just lacked legs,” said the 60-year-old, who steered the Purefoods franchise to five championships.
The loss is tougher for Ginebra to swallow because it wasted their excellent run in the eliminations – amid the injuries to their key players, Ginebra finished the round with a 9-2 card and had a win-once incentive.
But for Cone, there’s no reason to cry over spilled milk; rather, he looks to use the loss as a fuel for next season.
“We’ll move forward, move on from it. Hopefully we’ll use it as motivation going to the next conference,” he said. “But they outplayed us.
“They deserved it … They outplayed us from the first minutes of the series all the way through.”
