July 20, 2019

Closing spurt propels Ginebra to the brink of Final Four

Barangay Ginebra beat Magnolia Pambansang Manok at endgame of a well-fought duel, carving out an 85-79 decision in the opener of their PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-three quarterfinals at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Saturday.

The two ball clubs were engaged in a spirited fight before Justin Brownlee banged away a trey to touch off an 8-2 windup that had the Kings moving in the threshold of the Final Four.

With the 1-0 upper hand, the Kings have got two cracks at closing out the Manila Clasico quarterfinals, the first one on Tuesday over at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Hotshots, now winless in their last five outings, must end their slump to force a rubber match on Thursday.

Coach Chito Victolero and his troops remained on a skid as they went scoreless in the last 3:08 of the game versus the Gin Kings.

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With the Hotshots misfiring at the finish, the Gin Kings took advantage, going to Stanley Pringle and Greg Slaughter for the killer baskets.

"It's a tough game against a tough team. We just focused on defense and tried to limit our errors," said Pringle, sparkling with 18 points, including four three-pointers.

He had a short stab that made it 82-79, then Hotshots' import Rakeem Christmas muffed a slam, giving back Ginebra the possession that led to a Slaughter basket that sealed the deal.

"We've still got a mission. We're still playing hard. We're looking forward to the next game," said Pringle. "We'll keep going."

After back-to-back PBA career-high games, Brownlee was held to 20 points but got all the needed support from the key Ginebra locals.

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Japeth Aguilar put in 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks and one assist while LA Tenorio came through with 11 markers, four steals, three boards and one dish-off.

Joe Devance, Scottie Thompson and Slaughter made their presence felt on the offensive end.

Still, it took Ginebra a lot before eventually fending off Magnolia.

"Magnolia did a really good job of muddying it up with their defense. They really kept the pace slow and limited the touches of Justin and Stanley," said Ginebra coach Tim Cone, saluting the Hotshots for their own tough effort on defense.

"As much as we won, it felt like a loss because we weren't able to play the game we wanted to play at all. Credit to their defense and coaching staff for putting up a fine defensive game plan. We got to handle it better on Tuesday and make sure we're better prepared," he added.

Paul Lee and Christmas led the way for the losing team with 24 and 18, respectively.(SB)