BARANGAY Ginebra regained its shooting touch to beat Rain or Shine, 111-104, in Game 5 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum and moved one win away from advancing to the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
RJ Abarrientos made sure to keep Ginebra’s big lead intact with timely baskets as the Kings gained a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven semifinal series - just one win short of a first PBA Finals appearance in three seasons.
Game 6 is on Sunday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
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The Gin Kings shot 11-of-22 from threes in the first half, more than what they made in the entire Game 4, to totally dominate the Elasto Painters.
Justin Brownlee scored 21 of his 32 points in the first half while Abarrientos finished with 31 points after shooting 4-of-8 from threes - a big leap from his eight-point output in Game 4 last Friday.
Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone was quick to move on from Friday’s game.
“A lot of things went our way tonight, which was great,” said Cone. “We were fortunate. But we’ve got to move on and be locked in. I don’t want to even talk about tonight.”
Their hot-shooting in the first half got Ginebra ahead, 56-44, and it looked headed for a blowout in the third when the Gins opened a 63-49 advantage.
Adrian Nocum led a fightback in the third quarter where he scored 15 consecutive Rain or Shine points to trim the gap to its lowest at 67-64 only for Ginebra to answer with an Abarrientos buzzer-beating four to make it 83-71.
The Gin Kings later led by as many as 18 points, 101-83, in the fourth as their threes started connecting again to finish the game with 16.
Nocum had 25 points but didn’t score in the fourth, while Jaylen Johnson had 22 points and 14 rebounds, but was held scoreless in the third quarter.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 111 – Brownlee 32, Abarrientos 31, Rosario 16, Thompson 9, Cu 8, Holt 8, Gray 3, Pinto 2, J. Aguilar 2, Go 0, Abis 0.
Rain or Shine 103 – Nocum 25, Johnson 22, Clarito 20, Mamuyac 11, Tiongson 10, David 6, Santillan 5, Malonzo 4, Caracut 1, Asistio 0, Manaytay 0.
Quarters: 31-26; 56-44; 83-71; 111-103.
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