STANLEY Pringle and Ralph Cu delivered the telling blows in the final quarter to lift Barangay Ginebra to a 92-88 win over Meralco in Game One of their PBA 48th Season Philippine Cup semifinal series at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Pringle scored 22 points while Cu added 18 markers as the Gin Kings drew first blood in the best-of-seven semifinal series.
Pringle made a three and a follow-up shot at the 3:50-mark of the fourth to give Ginebra an 83-78 lead. The Bolts responded with six straight points but Cu saved the day with a three-pointer with 2:20 left that brought Ginebra’s lead to 86-79.
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Pringle later secured the win with a floater, enabling Ginebra to claim a 92-86 advantage with 40.1 seconds on the clock.
Game Two is scheduled on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
'It's just one game'
Ginebra coach Tim Cone played down the win, saying he expects a long, fiercely fought series against their perennial playoff foes.
“The bottom line is it’s Game One,” Cone said. “It’s a long series. It’s a lot of games ahead of us. It’s just nice to get the first one out of the way, as it always is in a series.”
“You want to get that one and you put the other team on a reactive basis. But the bottom line is it’s just one game. We’ve got a lot of games to play,” said Cone.
Japeth Aguilar had 17 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks, Maverick Ahanmisi chipped in 15 points and six rebounds, while Christian Standhardinger produced 14 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists for the Gin Kings, who picked up their first win of the conference against the Bolts.
Scottie Thompson only had five points but delivered a buzzer-beating three at the end of the third for a 73-61 lead entering the fourth quarter, competing a turnaround by the Gins after trailing by one, 41-40, at the half.
A Cu three-pointer widened the gap to 76-63, the largest lead of Game One.
Chris Newsome delivered 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Bolts, while Chris Banchero got 15 points and eight assists.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 92 – Pringle 22, Cu 18, J. Aguilar 17, Ahanmisi 15, Standhardinger 14, Thompson 5, Onwubere 1, Tenorio 0, Pinto 0.
Meralco 88 – Newsome 21, Banchero 15, Maliksi 13, Quinto 11, Hodge 10, Almazan 8, Bates 6, Caram 3, Pasaol 1, Mendoza 0, Torres 0, Pascual 0.
Quarters: 22-22; 40-41; 73-61; 92-88.
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