STANLEY Pringle buried huge threes in the stretch run to move Barangay Ginebra on the cusp of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup title by overcoming Bay Area, 101-91, on Sunday at a packed SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Pringle nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give the Gin Kings a 97-86 buffer, averting a last-ditch Dragons comeback and giving his team a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven championship series in front of 21,823 roaring fans.
READ: Game 5 draws second-biggest PBA crowd to MOA Arena
With the thrilling victory, Barangay Ginebra gained the chance to close out the series and capture its 15th PBA title on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Pringle finished with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three-point distance, complementing the performance of Justin Brownlee who led the way with 37 points, eight rebounds, three steals, and four blocks.
Hayden Blankley had 29 points to carry the load of the Dragons, who still missed import Andrew Nicholson due to a sprained ankle in Game Three. Glen Yang was also out due to an ankle sprain suffered in Game Four.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone admitted they were able to prepare better for Game Five with Nicholson probable to return for Wednesday’s game.
“The last game, when Nicholson didn’t play, we were a little bit rudderless. We didn’t really have a direction in what and how to defend,” said Cone.
“Today, that was the difference. Today, we knew we have a scheme for Lam. We have a scheme for Zhu. We know how we wanted to match up. We talked more about Liu and Reid. We just have a better feel of what we wanted to do tonight,” said Cone.
Ginebra led by as many as 18 points, 76-58, thanks to a Pringle three in the third, and was still up, 91-81, in the fourth. But the Kings stilll needed a corner three from Pringle with 1:32 remaining before essentially sealing the win.
Japeth Aguilar scored 12 points in his best game of the series, including a dunk late in the game to put the exclamation point to the contest.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 101 – Brownlee 37, Pringle 20, J. Aguilar 12, Tenorio 8, Malonzo 7, Thompson 7, Standhardinger 5, Pinto 3, Gray 2, Mariano 0.
Bay Area 91 – Blankley 29, Lam 16, Zheng 15, Liu 10, Ewing 9, Song 5, Zhu 3, Ju 2, Reid 2.
Quarters: 23-24; 54-43; 76-62; 101-91.
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