BARANGAY Ginebra pulled away in the fourth quarter to turn back a hard-fighting Columbian Dyip side, 96-84, for a rousing start to its bid for a third successive PBA Governors Cup championship.
Import Justine Brownlee and Scottie Thompson helped the Kings break away from a tight ballgame by sparking a 12-4run midway through the final period that allowed the defending champions to finally took control.
That single run turned a 66-all count into a 78-70 Ginebra lead.
"It took us a long time to get going, not until the final six minutes of the game," said coach Tim Cone after the Kings' first game since beating San Miguel in the Commissioner's Cup Finals three weeks ago.
“That’s a typical thing that happens to a team with a championship hangover,” added Cone. “You get beat by teams you shouldn’t get beat by, or you lose moments you shouldn’t lose.”
But Brownlee and Thompson were not about to let that happen.
Brownlee scored 14 of his game-high 34 points during the final quarter while Thompson had half of his 14 points also during that same stretch, while also adding 10 rebounds and eight assists. The Ginebra import also had 21 rebounds.
Twin Towers Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar each finished with 14 points and they combined for 15 rebounds.
For the fourth straight time, Columbian fell short again of pulling off a win under new coach Johnedel Cardel.
Until that late explosion of Brownlee and Thompson, the Dyip appeared ready to fight to the finish after Rashawn McCarthy banged in a three-pointer that knotted the count for the last time at 66 with 9:22 to go.
Cone could only commiserate with the Dyip’s situation.
“They’ve been in every game they played and they’ve lost basically in the fourth quarter of every game,” said the Ginebra coach. “And they did it again tonight. But they’re a dangerous team. They’re going to beat some teams out there.”
McCarthy finished with 18 points while Jerramy King added 17 for Columbian (4-0), which only got 12 points and nine rebounds from import Akeen Wright.
The scores:
Ginebra (96) - Brownlee 34, Aguilar 14, Slaughter 14, Thompson 10, Mariano 8, Tenorio 7, Chan 7, Ferrer 2, Caguioa 0, Manuel 0.
Columbian (84) - McCarthy 18, King 17, Camson 14, Wright 12, Khobuntin 5, Escoto 5, Reyes 5, Sara 4, Gabriel 4, Ababou 0, Lastimosa 0, Cabrera 0, Cahilig 0.
Quarterscores: 23-18, 41-36, 61-61, 96-84.
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