ANTIPOLO City – Sumandal ang Barangay Ginebra sa backcourt duo nina Scottie Thompson at rookie RJ Abarrientos upang maitarak ang 121-92 panalo kontra San Miguel at lumapit sa PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
Nagbuhos si Abarrientos ng 28 points at 3 rebounds habang nagdagdag si dating league MVP Thompson ng 22, upang tulungan ang Kings na pataubin ang Beermen sa Game 5 ng best-of-seven semifinals sa harap ng jampacked crowd sa Ynares Center.
Nabawi ng Kings ang kalamangan sa serye, 3-2, at isa pang panalo sa Game 6 sa Linggo ay makababalik ang koponan sa finals ng season-opening conference.
Masaya si coach Tim Cone at nagawang malusutan ng kanyang tropa ang maagang pananalasa ng SMB na nagbigay sa Beermen ng hanggang 13-point lead at nagpabalik sa alaala ng 131-121 panalo ng huli sa Game 4.
“I tell you they came out with guns a-blazing at the beginning of the game. It was almost like Game 4 all over again.
They just came out firing and then there was a lot of worry in the timeouts,” sabi ni Cone.
“But we kind of got settled, I thought RJ and Joe (Devance), the two of them came out in that first quarter, kind of settled us down, hit some shots. Scottie did a great job of keeping us in the game early. So we were able to settle ourselves down. I think we were just too pumped up in the beginning and we weren’t really thinking the game,” dagdag ni Cone.
“But we just got it turned around and a lot of contributions from everybody. It wasn’t all just Justin tonight. I thought Japeth (Aguilar) and Joe did a really good job defensively tonight and that was really the key.”
Naitala ni Thompson ang 18 sa kanyang 22 points sa opening period bago nakipagtuwang si Abarrientos kina Justin Brownlee at Aguilar sa second period kung saan na-outscore ng Ginebra ang SMB, 29-17, upang iposte ang 63-50 halftime lead.
Nanguna si EJ Anosike para sa Beermen na may 21 points habang nagdagdag si June Mar Fajardo ng 17 points at 18 rebounds.
Nag-ambag sina CJ Perez at Marcio Lassiter ng tig-16 points, subalit ang kabuuang 19 turnovers at 38-for-80 shooting mula sa field ng Beermen ang malinaw na naging susi sa kanilang pagkatalo.
CLYDE MARIANO
Iskor:
GINEBRA (121) – Abarrientos 28, Thompson 22, Brownlee 18, J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Holt 9, Cu 4, Pinto 3, Adamos 2, Devance 2, Pessumal 2, R.Aguilar 2, Mariano 1.
SAN MIGUEL (92) – Anosike 21, Fajardo 17, Perez 16, Lassiter 16, Trollano 7, Ross 4, Enciso 4, Cruz 3, Brondial 2, Romeo 2, Nava 0, Tautuaa 0, Rosales 0.
QUARTERS: 34-33, 63-50, 92-79, 121-92
