ANTIPOLO – Barangay Ginebra finally snapped out of its losing slump on Friday night after turning back a gritty Blackwater side, 109-100, in the PBA Season 46 Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center.
The Gin Kings raced to a 37-20 lead at the end of the first with Justin Brownlee scoring 12 of his 25 points in that period in the victory that ended a four-game skid - the longest under the Tim Cone regime in the team.
Ginebra evened its record to 4-4, joining idle teams TNT and Phoenix Super LPG in a share of sixth place in the standings.
Bossing lose 27th in a row
Blackwater dropped its 27th consecutive loss to go down at 0-8, bowing out of quarterfinal contention. However, the winless squad earned a lot of respect by storming back in the final quarter, razing what once stood as a 31-point deficit.
“We are trying not to focus on the four losses. There’s nothing we can do about the four losses except just try to learn from them. I thought today, we came out and played a much better game,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Cone though was disappointed with their play in the fourth where Blackwater was able to cut the gap to as low as seven points.
“We made the game more exciting that it needed to be. Our guys off the bench didn’t get control of the game like we hoped and put the pressure on the starters to come back to kinda save them. Our bench needs to do a better job,” Cone added.
Japeth Aguilar scored 18 points and grabed eight rebounds, while Scottie Thompson had 16 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists for Ginebra, which will next face Terrafirma on Sunday.
Shawn Glover had 29 points, while JVee Casio had 27 points for Blackwater, which will clash with NorthPort on Wednesday.
The scores:
Barangay Ginebra 109 – Brownlee 25, J. Aguilar 18, Thompson 16, Tenorio 14, Standhardinger 13, Onwubere 9, Tolentino 7, Chan 6, Caperal 1, Pinto 0, Enriquez 0, Ayaay 0.
Blackwater 100 – Glover 29, Casio 27, Amer 10, Ebona 10, Desiderio 7, McCarthy 5, Suerte 4, Ayonayon 2, Nabong 2, Baloria 2, Ambolutdo 1, Escoto 0, Washington 0, Chauca 0, Paras 0, Melton 0.
Quarters: 37-20; 63-41; 89-64; 109-100.
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