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[av_heading heading=’Ginebra trumps Hotshots to tie PBA semis series at 2-2′ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Thursday, February 16, 2017
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Star Hotshots forward Marc Pingris (15) attempts to sink a hit against the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings during their 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals series match on Wednesday.PBA
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MANILA – The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings maintained its aggression in Game 4 to score a 93-86 victory over the Star Hotshots in the 2016-2017 Oppo PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals on Wednesay at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Jervy Cruz led the way with a conference-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds for the Kings, which scored its second straight win in the race-to-four series to force a 2-2 deadlock.
Japeth Aguilar added double-double 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Ellis chipped in with 10 markers for the Kings, which is eyeing its second straight PBA championship.
The Hotshots surged to an early lead in the game on a triple by Allein Maliksi but the Kings quickly countered behind LA Tenorio and Ellis to tie the score at 21-all before the Hotshots took a 23-21 lead at the end of the period via a Rome dela Rosa shot.
The Kings started strong in the second frame to snatch the lead at 26-25 on an Aguilar hit. The lead later grew to 45-37 on seven straight points by Cruz before settling for a 48-41 edge at halftime.
The Kings maintained its lead early in the third frame with conversions from Cruz but the Hotshots responded behind Paul Lee and Jean Marc Pingris to tie the count at 60-all. However, the Kings surged ahead at 65-62 heading into fourth on a trey by Kevin Ferrer.
The Kings took advantage of disarray at the Hotshots camp at the start of the final quarter to build a 71-62 lead on a Sol Mercado hit. But the Hotshots refused to give up as it came to within 76-71 on back-to-back hits by Rafael Reavis.
The Kings widened the lead to its largest at 85-75 on conversions by Aguilar and Cruz before the Hotshots made its last run to come to within 90-86, but a three-point play by Cruz sealed the win for the Kings.
Maliksi top-scored with 18 points, while Jiovani Jalalon and Reavis added 16 and 13 points, respectively, for the Hotshots, which opened the series with two straight wins before losing the next two./PN
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