Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — We are back to square one.
Barangay Ginebra stopped the Star Hotshots, 93-86, to even their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup semifinal series at 2-2 on Wednesday evening at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Jervy Cruz paced Ginebra with 21 points, while Japeth Aguilar chipped in with 18.
A hotly contested opening frame saw the Hotshots take a slim 23-21 advantage into the second period.
But after going 25-21 down in the second frame, the Gin Kings unleashed a 15-5 run to wrestle control of the game and go into the halftime break with a 48-41 lead.
The Hotshots fought back after the break, tying the game up at 60, but were pegged back again by a quick 5-2 Ginebra burst to give the Gin Kings a 65-62 advantage before the payoff period.
In the fourth quarter, Star was bogged down by foul trouble after seeing Paul Lee carrying his fifth foul with 11:28 left to play and Mark Barroca fouling out at the 8:39 mark.
Despite the disadvantage, the Hotshots found themselves within 83-89 with 1:00 left to play.
The Ginebra lead proved to be too much though, as they held on to even the series.
Allein Maliksi ended with 18 markers for the Hotshots in the losing effort.
After the game, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone took time to commend his players such as Cruz, Chris Ellis, and Sol Mercado for stepping up in the win.
“We had a lot of help from other guys other than Japeth and LA (Tenorio) today,” Cone said. “It’s about other guys apart from Japeth and LA ,and thats what going to take for the rest of the series.”
Ginebra and Star will vie for the lead in the series in Game 5 on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
