MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings overcame a slow start to score a 96-81 victory over Bay Area Dragons in Game 1 of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Justin Brownlee flirted with triple-double with 28 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, while LA Tenorio drilled three outside conversions to end up with 22. The Gin Kings took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series.
Christian Standhardinger ended with double-double 16 points and 10 rebounds, as Earl Scottie Thompson contributed 14 markers, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal for Ginebra.
The Dragons set the tone early with a 10-4 start behind five straight points by Zhu Songwei before the Gin Kings relied on the offense of Tenorio to keep the match close at 22-25.
Bay Area went on to widen the advantage to eight points in the second quarter after a dunk by Andrew Nicholson but Ginebra turned things around behind Tenorio and Standhardinger to take a 45-40 halftime advantage.
The Gin Kings continued its run to start the third canto behind Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar for a 55-44 advantage but the Dragons answered with connections from Nicholson and Zhu to trim it to 52-57.
Ginebra quickly answered with connections from Brownlee, Thompson and Malonzo to restore a 72-61 advantage late in the quarter before Bay Area cut it to single digits via a three-pointer from Song Jianhua.
The Dragons threatened to within 69-74 to start the final quarter on a dunk by Nicholson but free throws by Brownlee, a three-point play by Thompson and five straight points by Tenorio gave the Kings an 85-74 advantage.
The Dragons rolled on consecutive baskets by Nicholson in an attempt to stay in the game but Brownlee converted three straight baskets as the Kings notched its largest lead of 15 points.
Nicholson got double-double 27 points and 12 rebounds, Zhu and Glen Yang chipped in 12 markers apiece, while Kobey Lam was held to just 11 markers, including three triples, for the Dragons.
BOX SCORE:
GINEBRA 96 – Brownlee 28, Tenorio 22, Standhardinger 16, Thompson 14, J. Aguilar 6, Pringle 5, Malonzo 3, Gray 2, Mariano 0, R. Aguilar 0, Pessumal 0.
BAY AREA 81 – Nicholson 27, Zhu 12, Yang 12, Lam 11, Ju 6, Song 5, Blankley 4, Liu 2, Zheng 2, Reid 0.
Quarterscores: 22-25, 45-40, 72-64, 96-81./PN
