MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings lived to fight another day. It scored a 104-92 victory over TNT Tropang Giga in the 2021-2022 PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After seeing its double-digit lead turned to a 73-all score, the Kings got a lift on three-pointers by Nard John Pinto and Justin Brownlee and inside hits from Earl Scottie Thompson for an 87-79 spread.
The Tropang Giga made its last push at 88-90 but consecutive three-pointers by Brownlee and Thompson and a fastbreak dunk by Japeth Aguilar sealed the win for the Kings.
Brownlee finished the match with double-double 38 points and 13 rebounds. Thompson fell short of a triple-double with 23 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the defending champions Kings.
Aguilar also made his presence felt with 21 markers, while LA Tenorio and Christian Standhardinger combined for 13 as Barangay Ginebra forced a do-or-die game on Saturday.
Aaron Fuller tallied double-double 22 points and 19 rebounds, while Jeth Troy Rosario and Mikey Williams had 20 and 19 markers, respectively, for Tropang Giga.
Just like the Kings, Alaska Aces also kept its campaign alive and stay in the league longer with a 93-79 beating of NLEX Road Warriors in their separate quarterfinals series.
Down by as much as 11 points in the opening quarter, the Aces slowly clawed its way back in the second period behind Jeron Teng, Abu Tratter and Mark Saint Fort to take a 40-38 halftime lead.
Alaska got a lift from Chris Michael Tolomia in the third quarter to widen the lead to 64-55 before it grew to its biggest at 91-75 with inside shots from Yousef Taha and Tratter in the fourth.
Saint Fort spearheaded the Aces’ offense with double-double 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Teng, Tratter and Tolomia chipped in 16, 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
BOX SCORE:
GINEBRA 104 – Brownlee 38, Thompson 23, J. Aguilar 21, Tenorio 7, Standhardinger 6, Pinto 6, Chan 3, Onwubere 0, Devance 0, Caperal 0.
TNT 92 – Fuller 22, Rosario 20, M.Williams 19, Pogoy 12, K.Williams 12, Castro 5, Montalbo 0, Erram 0, Reyes 0, Khobuntin 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
Quarterscores: 28-14, 50-45, 71-70, 104-92/PN
