HERE are the top sports stories from Wednesday.
Sports news April 19
Justin Brownlee leaves due to food poisoning
Barangay Ginebra missed Justin Brownlee for most of the second half due to food poisoning, factoring heavily in the team’s 104-95 loss to TNT in Game Five of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
The resident Gin Kings import was throwing up as he dealt with a bad case of diarrhea hours before Game Five, managing to play through the first half before leaving late third quarter and getting taken to the hospital after the game.
Still, Brownlee contributed 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting before the naturalized Filipino left the game.
“You could see it when he started in the second half. He just didn’t have anything. He was throwing up at halftime. He was throwing up on the bench when we took him out,” Gin Kings coach Tim Cone said.
Ed Picson passes away
Ed Picson, the veteran sportscaster who rose to become president of the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (Abap), passed away on Wednesday due to a lingering illness.
He was 69.
At the time of his death, the Leyte native was president of Abap, the country's governing body for boxing of which he's been a part of since 2009, initially as secretary general.
It was under his term that Abap enjoyed it's most successful campaign ever in the Olympics in Tokyo last year behind the two silver medals courtesy of Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, and a bronze medal through Eumir Marcial.
Kai Sotto vs Kiefer Ravena in B.League
Kai Sotto got one over Kiefer Ravena as the Hiroshima Dragonflies dispatched the Shiga Lakes, 99-88, in the Japan B.League at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall.
Sotto put up 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 2of 2 from the foul line, and grabbed 12 boards, on top of one assist, one steal, and one block in almost 25 minutes as a starter.
More importantly, the homegrown Filipino NBA aspirant’s team snapped back-to-back losses to improve to a 39-15 record and gain solo fifth spot ahead of Ray Parks’ Nagoya Diamond Dolphins.
Ravena had nine points – all from beyond the arc, eight assists, three rebounds in almost 26 minutes as a starter, but his team suffered a third straight loss and fell to 13-41 overall to get stuck in 22nd spot out of 24 teams.
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