MANILA – Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings overcame a sloppy start to eliminate NorthPort Batang Pier, 99-93, in Game 2 of their 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-three quarterfinals on Saturday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Down by as much as 18 points in the opening half, the Gin Kings slowly clawed its way back before going on a huge third quarter run behind LA Tenorio and Justin Brownlee to take a 72-66.
The Gin Kings went on to build its largest lead at 97-85 after a triple by Tenorio but the Batang Pier made its last push to cut the deficit to 93-97 but two freebies by Tenorio sealed the win for Ginebra.
Brownlee finished with 20 points, with 13 coming in the second half, to go with nine rebounds and five assists as the Kings, which advance to the best-of-five semifinals against Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots.
Earl Scottie Thompson flirted with triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, Tenorio and Jamie Malonzo had 14 each, while Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle had 13 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Kings.
Negrense Jeffrei Chan led the Batang Pier with 20 points, Arvin Tolentino and Kevin Ferrer added 18 markers each, while Robert Bolick Jr. and William Navarro had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
San Miguel Beermen also made its way to the semifinals round following a lopsided 120-107 domination over Converge FiberXers to win their best-of-three quarterfinals series at 2-0.
Terrence Romeo had his best game since returning from a lengthy absence with 22 points, including five three-point conversions, to go with three assists and a rebound for the Beermen.
Devon Scott had double-double 20 points and 14 rebounds, June Mar Fajardo flirted with triple-double with 18 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists, while Simon Enciso, Ilonggo Jericho Cruz and Jaymar Perez had 16, 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Beermen, which is aiming for its second consecutive title after ruling the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup, will next face top-seed Bay Area Dragons in the best-of-five semis beginning on Wednesday.
BOX SCORE:
GINEBRA 99 – Brownlee 20, Thompson 15, Malonzo 14, Tenorio 14, Standhardinger 13, Pringle 10, Gray 9, J. Aguilar 4, Mariano 0.
NORTHPORT 93 – Chan 20, Tolentino 18, Ferrer 18, Bolick 13, Navarro 10, Ibeh 7, Sumang 5, Balanza 2, Taha 0, Caperal 0, Calma 0.
Quarterscores: 13-29, 43-47, 72-66, 99-93./PN
