The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings nearly squandered a 19-point lead but managed to secure a 110-101 victory over the Phoenix Fuel Masters in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Japeth Aguilar led the Kings with a conference-high 31 points, while Justin Brownlee came close to a triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists.
Stephen Holt finished with 19 points, while rookie Rhon Jhay Abarrientos contributed 16 markers for the Gin Kings, which secured its first back-to-back win of the conference for a 3-2 win-loss slate.
Leading 74-55 midway through the third quarter, the Fuel Masters went on a massive run, highlighted by two four-pointers by Ryan Roose Garcia, to cut Ginebra’s lead to 74-73.
The Gin Kings managed to pull away anew with conversions from Holt to end the third quarter and Brownlee at the onset of the fourth period, but the Fuel Masters rallied again to within eight points on a three-pointer by Larry Muyang.
Barangay Ginebra, however, got inside connections from Brownlee and Aguilar and an outside conversion from Abarrientos for a 110-98 spread with over a minute left in the game.
“I think we have to talk first about the fight the Phoenix had to comeback in this game. I thought I was giving our starters a rest because we have a big lead, but it dissipated early; it’s like a blink of an eye,” said Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone.
“I thought our guys did a good job on keeping their composure; when our lead went down to one point, they went back to our system of playing it possession by possession, and we made another run,” he added.
Brandone Francis top-scored for the Fuel Masters with 33 points, Garcia added 17 markers, and Jason Perkins contributed 13 points. They remained winless in five matches.
The post Ginebra overcomes Phoenix’s runs for back-to-back wins first appeared on Fastbreak.
0 comments: