TNT forged a decider for the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup crown after a courageous 98-90 win over Barangay Ginebra in Game Six on Sunday night before an SRO crowd at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Chris McCullough delivered a monster of a performance with 53 points and 22 rebounds, helping the Tropang 5G hold off a Justin Brownlee-led comeback to keep their title-retention bid alive in front of 22,731 fans at the Big Dome.
READ Brownlee assures there's plenty of gas left in tank for Game 7
The Tropang 5G win arranged a deciding Game 7 on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
McCullough made the big response after Brownlee's career-high 54 points in Game 5. A four-point shot with 1:52 left in the fourth gave TNT a 94-86 lead to essentially win the game despite the prolific Ginebra import's 52 points.
TNT also won the game without Calvin Oftana and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser after both sustained injuries in Game 5.
McCullough also helped TNT build a 10-point lead in the first half when he had 20 points by the break. He scored 17 in the third and 16 in the fourth on his way to reaching his PBA career-high, eclipsing his previous mark of 51 with SMB during Game 3 of the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals against Rain or Shine.
McCullough’s 22 rebounds also tied a career-high, according to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon.
TNT was able to bounce back after losing Game 5 where the Tropang 5G were already up, 87-80, in the fourth and missed a potential game-winner in regulation when Jayson Castro had an airball in TNT’s final play.
Barangay Ginebra went on to win, 100-95.
“Our discussion yesterday, ‘Hey, we were down 3-2, but we had Game 5 in our hands.’ We just were not able to make that shot,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes. “We told ourselves not to get discouraged that if we really focus on defense, we can really stop this team.”
Jordan Heading had 19 points and nine rebounds, while RR Pogoy had 13 points for TNT, which will look to repeat their Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup Finals win where they overcame a 3-2 deficit against Ginebra to win the championship.
Brownlee had little support from the locals with Troy Rosario ending up with nine points, although he grabbed 15 rebounds. Best Player of the Conference RJ Abarrientos had six points on 1-of-12 shooting from the field while Scottie Thompson finished with 3.
The scores:
TNT 98 – McCullough 53, Heading 19, Pogoy 13, Nambatac 3, Castro 3, Khobuntin 3, Williams 2, Galinato 2, Aurin 0.
Barangay Ginebra 90 – Brownlee 52, Rosario 9, J. Aguilar 8, Abarrientos 6, Holt 5, Thompson 3, Abis 2, Gray 0, Cu 0.
Quarters: 17-16; 45-43; 75-67; 98-90.
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