Barangay Ginebra defeated San Miguel Beer by a score of 87-85, and as a result, they will play in the PBA Governors’ Cup finals on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum. The game was won by Barangay Ginebra, and Christian Stanhardinger scored the game-winning basket for the Gin Kings.
At the point in the game when the score was knotted at 85 each, Justin Brownlee provided the ideal assist to Standhardinger. The layup was made by the Filipino-German forward with only four seconds left on the clock, and it put the Kings in the lead.
Marcio Lassiter made an attempt to steal the game for the Beermen on the opposite end, but his jump shot was unsuccessful. As a result, Ginebra was able to finish out the best-of-five semifinal series with a 3-0 whitewash and advance to the championship game.
“”That really was different from the first two games, isn’t it?” asked Ginebra coach Tim Cone, who was ecstatic by his team’s clean sweep of the three games.
“It seemed as though we were already behind in the game by 47 minutes and perhaps 50 seconds at that point. We didn’t take the lead until the very last ten seconds of the game. It is incredible that they continued to play the game with such consistency.
As Ginebra began their ruthless run in the fourth period, it was already 18 points behind the leader. Jeremiah Gray sparked a thunderous three in transition for Ginebra with 1 minute and 51 seconds left on the clock, which cut the Kings’ deficit to 83-82 and gave them the lead.
Before Lassiter came roaring back with a booming triple that tied the score for the Beermen at 85-all, Brownlee jacked it further with a shot near the elbow. Brownlee jacked it further with a shot near the elbow.
After that, Brownlee led the defenders for San Miguel into a trap before dishing off the pass to Standhardinger. The Filipino-German player then scored in the hoop in the final four seconds of the game to give Ginebra a two-point advantage.
Stanhardinger was quoted as saying, “You always want to win for our families, the fans, and for anyone connected with the team.”
“It’s painful to lose Japeth (Aguilar), especially in his circumstances; it’s much more to lose LA (Tenorio); yet, that’s part of the reason why we keep battling so hard,”
As is customary, Cone utilized the same starting unit throughout the entirety of the match against the Beermen. Yet according to him, all his soldiers cared about was winning.
“I was simply thinking whether or not we should keep battling at it or whether or not I should pull my people out and live to fight another day on Friday. Yet they continued to demonstrate a determination to succeed. I was hoping that they might slow down or give in a little bit, but they never did either of those things.
Because of this, I stuck with them throughout the game, and we ended up winning thanks to a few of huge shots and some excellent stops.
At the end of the game, Brownlee had a total of 22 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists. In spite of the fact that he struggled to score against San Miguel, Standharding finished with 17 rebounds, 14 points, and seven assists.
Cameron Clark, a San Miguel import, had a difficult time scoring in the last five minutes but still managed to finish with 16 points to lead the Beermen. CJ Perez had 14.
The Standings:
Brownlee scored 22 points, Thompson 17 points, Standhardinger 14 points, Gray 13 points, Malonzo 12 points, Pinto 4 points, Pessumal 3 points, Mariano 2 points, and Pringle 0 points.
SAN MIGUEL 85 – Clark 16, Perez 14, Lassiter 13, Cruz 12, Enciso 11, Tautuaa 6, Herndon 6, Ross 5, Manuel 2
QUARTERS: 17-16, 38-50, 58-70, 87-85
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