TNT ends Governors’ Cup reign of Brgy. Ginebra

TNT emerged as the new champion of the PBA Governors’ Cup after dethroning Brgy. Ginebra, 97-93, in Game 6 of the best-of-seven championship series, Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The Tropang Giga trailed after three games into the Finals duel, 1-2, but racked up three straight victories to claim their first ever Governors’ Cup title since joining the league in 1996.

Mikey Williams shone the brightest for the flagship team of the MVP group with 38 points on 14-of-27 shooting including 9-of-18 from the 3-point country. The 31-year-old Fil-Am also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists in 42 minutes of action.

“Ginebra hasn’t lost two games in a row this conference, much less three in a row—that was my pregame talk. And if there’s somebody who can beat them, it’s the team that I’m with right now,” said TNT head coach Jojo Lastimosa shortly after bagging his first PBA title.

“It’s not an easy task. A lot of teams tried to beat Tim (Cone) and (Justin) Brownlee at this stage. And they never did. Maybe we got a little break after his food poisoning. But Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson) also had so much fight in him. He would not lose this game. Even if he had his feet severed,” he added.

The TNT import added 29 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in a no-relief effort.

Justin Brownlee, who missed the 4th quarter of Game 5 due to a severe case of food poisoning, paced the Gin Kings with 29 points, 12 boards, 4 dimes, a steal and 2 blocks while Jamie Malonzo and Scottie Thompson scored 21 and 20 points, respectively. Christian Standhardinger chipped in 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

The scores:

TNT 97 – M.Williams 38, Hollis-Jefferson 29, Erram 6, Castro 6, Oftana 6, K.Williams 4, Ganuelas-Rosser 4, Montalbo 3, Khobuntin 1.

Brgy. Ginebra 93 – Brownlee 29, Malonzo 21, Thompson 20, Standhardinger 16, Gray 4, Pinto 2, J. Aguilar 1, Mariano 0, Pringle 0.

Quarterscores: 20-27, 48-51, 77-73, 97-93.