MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings moved closer to reaching the finals of the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup. It defeated NorthPort Batang Pier, 132-105, in Game 3 of the semifinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Justin Brownlee flirted with triple-double – with 41 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Japeth Aguilar chipped in double-double 18 points and 10 rebounds.
As Ginebra moves ahead in the best-of-five semis, 2-1, Negrense Jeffrei Chan also contributed 17 points while Stanley Pringle and LA Tenorio came up with 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
Both teams exchange hits at the onset of the match before the Kings gained headways late in the opening period at 36-31 on triples by Pringle and inside hits by Aguilar and Brownlee.
The Kings increased the lead further in the second period with Chan connecting consecutive hits and Brownlee and Tenorio to make it a 64-48 score at the half.
Ginebra pulled away for good in the second half behind conversions from Brownlee, Tenorio, Aguilar and Chan. The lead went up to its largest at 32 in the fourth quarter.
For the Batang Pier, Michael Qualls tallied 30 points, while Christian Standhardinger and Ilonggo Juan Paolo Taha added 20 and 15 points, respectively./PN