(PBA images)
DRAWING power from an RJ Abarrientos-led second-half outburst, Barangay Ginebra regained control against San Miguel Beer at 2-1 in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinal series.
Abarrientos erupted with a near triple-double of 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as took the forefront of the Gin Kings’ 100-90 romp in Sunday’s Game 3 tiebreaker at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The ace rookie dropped 22 markers in the last 24 minutes, scoring or assisting in a game-changing 10-0 salvo that gave Ginebra a 69-58 tear in the third then rifling in 18 in the fourth to put the game beyond SMB’s reach.
Jamie Malonzo had 20-7, Japeth Aguilar netted 18, Scottie Thompson accounted for 16-7-5 and Stephen Holt produced 10-7 to back up Abarrientos in the bounceback win to the Gin Kings’ 83-100 loss in Game 2.
The troops of coach Tim Cone, who drew first blood in the race-to-four contest with a 73-71 steal, will try to get a third W on Wednesday that will put them closer to a third straight finals stint this season.
“We didn’t play a good game last time out (Game 2). We had to tip our cap to San Miguel because you know they were stinging from the from Game 1 loss and and they knew that June Mar (Fajardo) was going to be playing limited minutes. So their guys came out and played with tremendous energy and just basically outworked us, outplayed us in Game 2,” said coach Tim Cone.
“But I I’m just real proud of the guys for steadying themselves and we figured a couple things out (in Game 3). I thought we played with a really good tempo and then RJ just played tremendous down the stretch to uh keep them at bay.”
Don Trollano scored 22 while Fajardo, battling through calf issues, dished out a 12-14 double-double in a limited 27-minute, 11-second duty as the Beermen found themselves playing catch-up again.
The Scores:
Ginebra 100 — Abarrientos 24, Malonzo 20, J. Aguilar 18, Thompson 16, Holt 10, Ahanmisi 7, Rosario 5, Pinto 0, R. Aguilar 0, Gray 0.
San Miguel 90 — Trollano 22, Fajardo 12, Perez 11, Cruz 11, Tiongson 10, Tautuaa 8, Ross 6, Lassiter 5, Rosales 3, Brondial 2 , Cahilig 0.
