Justin Brownlee came up with a key three-point play at winning time to highlight a superb 37-point game and Barangay Ginebra squeezed out a 103-102 nail-biter to move in the threshold of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
The Aces, who waged a searing fightback from a 13-point deficit to send the game to a down-the-wire finish, had a chance to salvage the match but Cory Jefferson and Jvee Casio missed an attempt each in the last seven seconds.
The Kings instead grinded out a fifth straight win and inched closer to an outright playoff entry as they pulled abreast with the San Miguel Beermen at 5-1.
Brownlee and his teammates practically did it on their own with coach Tim Cone running out of timeout.
“It’s certainly tough. We battled through lots of adversities from playing the last six minutes without a timeout, the calls, not having Japeth (Aguilar) and having a big lead that we lost,” said Cone.
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“It’s very difficult but our guys are used to playing down the stretch, and making plays both on offense and defense.”
From the 95-101 count, Joe Devance, Kevin Ferrer and Brownlee made the clutch shots that saved the night for the Kings who went on to preserve a hot streak with earlier victories over GlobalPort, Star, NLEX and TNT KaTropa.
Brownlee’s three-point play with 7.2 seconds to go highlighted his 37-point game also laced with 14 rebounds.
The Kings blew a 72-59 lead, fell behind by six at 95-101 and were still trailing at 100-102 before Browlee came through with the winning play.
“It’s a great play. They probably thought he’s gonna stop and pull up like he did in the finals (in the last Governors Cup versus Meralco). Justin made a hesitation move then went to the rim for the three-point play,” said Cone.
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“Justin Brownlee is such an intelligent player. He’s so intelligent,” Cone added.
Jefferson also had a big game he marked with 25 points and 18 rebounds.
And helping Alaska big time were good efforts by Vic Manuel and Chris Banchero in their return from the injury list. Manuel got 13 markers and five boards while Banchero contributed nine points, two assists and two rebounds.
The game went down to the final second, and the Kings escaped through on a flubbed side jumper by Casio.
