MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings wasted a lead as high as 23 points before escaping with a 75-72 win over Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Game 3 of their 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinal series Saturday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Justin Brownlee led Kings with 44 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, and five steals while LA Tenorio chipped in with 13 markers for a 2-1 Ginebra series lead.
Kings zoomed to a 9-0 start in the game on back-to-back triples by Tenorio. After Painters cut the deficit to 5-9, Kings pulled away anew with shots from Brownlee and Greg Slaughter for a 24-10 advantage.
With Painters failing to find a basket in the second quarter, Kings went on to widen the lead further to its largest 46-23 with Brownlee converting baskets from inside and outside.
Painters had a strong start in the third quarter, trimming the deficit 36-48, but Kings answered with a run – with free throws by Brownlee and back-to-back treys by Tenorio – for a 61-41 edge.
Rain or Shine had another surge early in the fourth – baskets from Maverick Ahanmisi and James Yap allowed it to come to within 52-61. Brownlee and Slaughter answered back with inside hits to extend the lead to double-figures.
But Painters did not give up, pulling off consecutive triples to come to as close as 72-74. A split free throw by Tenorio upped Kings’ lead 75-72. Painters had a chance to force overtime but Yap misfired in two 3-point attempts.
Reginald Johnson struggled offensively with 13 points and 21 rebounds while Raymond Almazan and Eduardo Daquioag added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Painters, which will try to force a do-or-die Game 5 on Wednesday./PN
