Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Barangay Ginebra got their first win, 73-62, over the Star Hotshots in their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup semifinals series on Monday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Sol Mercado paced Ginebra with 16 markers, while Japeth Aguilar finished with 15.
Staring at the possibility of a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-seven series, the Gin Kings started Game 3 with aplomb by going on a 17-4 run to open the game.
Ginebra led the Hotshots 21-10 headed into the second frame, but would not be able to hold Star back.
Star battled back to reduce the deficit to 29-26 through a Justin Melton trey at the 2:34 mark of the second quarter.
But that was as close as Star came to tying up the ballgame, with Ginebra clinging to a 33-29 advantage at the halftime break.
In the third period, another triple from Melton and a bucket from Mark Barroca gave the Star the 43-42 lead with 6:06 before the payoff period.
The Hotshots managed to enter the final period with a slim 51-50 advantage, but it would not take long for Ginebra to reclaim the advantage, 53-51, through a Scottie Thompson trey at the 10:57 mark.
The two teams would exchange possession of the lead throughout the fourth quarter, until an 14-0 run would give Ginebra the 73-60 lead with 1:30 left on the clock.
Ginebra would hold on to the advantage as they their first victory in the series.
Marc Pingris led Star with 12 points and 18 rebounds.
After the game, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone admitted that his team was just hitting shots that they weren’t making in the past few games.
“Well we hit some shots, I thought that was the big difference maker,” Cone said. “The good news is that we are back in the series now, we’re not even but we’re back in.”
The Gin Kings will try to even the series in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
