Ginebra drubs San Miguel, 107-99, in PBA Comm’s Cup
MANILA – The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings avoided another endgame collapse after scoring a 107- 99 win over the San Miguel Beermen in the 2017 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Reinforcement J ustin Brownlee led the way with 36 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and three steals for the Kings, which tied the Beermen with a 6-2 win-loss record.
LA Tenorio added 20 markers, while Earl Scottie Thompson and Joe Devance contributed 18 and 16 points, respectively, for the Kings, which recovered from a 118- 112 defeat to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last Friday night.
The Kings had a strong start in the game behind Brownlee and Tenorio to eventually build its largest lead at 38-13. However, the Beermen was quick to recover to come to within 52-39 at halftime.
San Miguel played catchup with the Kings for almost the entire third frame with Ginebra able to keep in step with their opponents after the former pulled to within 93- 90 on a triple by Alex Cabagnot.
The Kings, however, got five straight points from Brownlee to extend the lead to 10 points anew. The Beermen mounted a last stand but was only able to come to within eight points.
“We caught them flat at the beginning and we carried that
n rt throughout the game, but our bigs got into foul trouble and suddenly we were playing on our heels,” said Kings head coach Tim Cone. “Good perseverance for our guys tonight.”
Import Charles Rhodes top- scored with 36 points, while Cabagnot and Arwind Santos added 20 and 19 points, respectively, for the Beermen, which has lost two of its last three games./