Brgy. Ginebra ends losing streak with 9-point win over Blackwater
Brgy. Ginebra’s losing streak has finally come to an end after the Gin Kings outlasted Blackwater, 109-100, Friday night in the elimination round of the 2021 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Justin Brownlee paced the defending champions with 25 points to go with 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals as the Tim Cone-mentored squad snapped a 4-game slide which started on Christmas Day last year. The team improved to 4-4 with 3 games left on their schedule while the Bossing remained winless in 8 starts and is now on a 27-game slide.
The much-needed win, which came after the Gin Kings were seriously threated in the 4th despite leading by as much as 31 midway into the 3rd, moved the crowd darlings into a three-way tie for 6th place in the team standings with TNT and Phoenix Super LPG.
“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 Gin Kings coach Tim Cone during the post-game presser.
“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,” he added.
Japeth Aguilar, who was adjudged as the Best Player of the Game, led the local charge with 18 points while Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio and Christian Standhardinger chipped in 16, 14 and 13 markers, respectively.
Sidney Onwubere, who was earlier ruled out for the conference due to a major ankle sprain, surprisingly showed up for the game and contributed 9 points in 10 minutes of play.
The Gin Kings will try to make it two-in-a-row when they take on the Terrafirma Dyip on Sunday, February 27 at the same venue.
The scores:
Brgy. 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.
Quarterscores: 37-20, 63-41, 89-64, 109-100.