Quezon City (CNN Philippines, April 13) – Justin Brownlee and Scottie Thompson came out big on the night they were feted to lead Barangay Ginebra in a 95-84 win over the Meralco Bolts in Game 4 of the PBA Governors’ Cup finals on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Brownlee and Thompson both scored 27 points each, with the former finishing with a double-double after grabbing 18 rebounds, as they evened up the series at 2-2 in the game that attracted 17,298 fans in the Big Dome.
The two players were the stars of the night after Brownlee won his first-ever Governors’ Cup Best Import award, while Thompson bagged his maiden Best Player of the Conference trophy.
RELATED: Ginebra stars Brownlee, Thompson win top PBA Governors’ Cup individual awards
The two rivals were in a neck-and-neck battle in the first half, but the defending champions Ginebra started to pull away in the third quarter with a sustained offensive thrust led by the two Gin Kings stars.
Ginebra’s lead went as high as 20 points as the suddenly struggling Meralco side could not provide any answers to the rejuvenated Gin Kings.
The Bolts failed to provide any credible threat for a comeback in the payoff period as the Gin Kings clinched the important victory.
The Tim Cone-mentored Ginebra also got an offensive boost from veteran playmaker LA Tenorio, who fired 17 points built on three triples.
“We knew we had to come out with a better fire in this third quarter. Everybody’s contributing and working on the offensive and defensive side. I thought we played the best game of the series today,” Cone said in the post-game interview.
Tony Bishop led Meralco with 25 points while Chris Newsome and Aaron Black added 15 and 14 markers, respectively.
The Scores:
GINEBRA 95 – Brownlee 27, Thompson 27, Tenorio 17, Standhardinger 11, Chan 9, Pinto 4, Tolentino 0, J. Aguilar 0, Mariano 0
MERALCO 84 – Bishop 25, Newsome 15, Black 14, Almazan 11, Quinto 6, Hodge 5, Hugnatan 3, Banchero 2, Baclao 0, Caram 0
Quarterscores: 24-21, 41-41, 68-54, 95-84
