Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel surprise Tim Cone as they staged a comeback against the Meralco Bolts in Game 3 of the PBA Season 49 Governors' Cup quarterfinals.
There is no one else that believes more in his players than Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel head coach Tim Cone, but even he did not think that they would gut it out with the Meralco Bolts in three games during their best-of-five quarterfinal series in the PBA Governors' Cup on Monday night.
Finding themselves behind for most of the second half, Cone was left in awe as his boys staged a fourth-quarter fightback to win the game, 113-106, relying on the heroics of rookie RJ Abarrientos and veteran guard Scottie Thompson.
Abarrientos, for his part, scored seven straight points for the Gin Kings to give Ginebra the lead with 5:38 left in the fourth, 97-94, after trailing since the game was tied at 42-all midway through the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Thompson got himself on the highlight reel anew for a rebound when he inhaled a miss by Stephen Holt late in the ball game that converted into a second chance bucket to push Ginebra’s lead to five, 107-102, with a minute and change remaining.
After the game, Cone lauded his players for the effort they put in – even if they had entered the contest ahead 2-0 in the series.
“First of all, I’m totally shocked that we were able to beat them in three straight games. I mean, each game [was one where] a play here, or a play there would’ve changed the whole complexion of the game.” said Cone.
“The ball kept rolling in our favor and usually the team that continues to battle and work really hard, the ball kind of rolls in their favor.”
The dagger from Japeth Aguilar also came from pure effort as he crashed the offensive boards to score with 28 ticks remaining and make it a 7-point game for Ginebra, 109-102.
Multiple players stepped up for Cone and the Gin Kings to complete the 3-0 sweep led by Player of the Game Stephen Holt who had 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
A total of six Gin Kings finished in double-digit scoring. It was Justin Brownlee that top scored for Ginebra with a 23-point effort as Aguilar added 19 markers.
Meanwhile, Abarrientos and Maverick Ahanmisi finished with 17 points each and Thompson chipped in with 16 points as well.
Allen Durham left it all out on the floor for Meralco in the losing effort as he ended up with a game-high 38 points as the Bolts ended their conference.
The Gin Kings will now play the waiting game for the series winner between the Converge FiberXers and the San Miguel Beermen who are playing as of press time. The latter holds a similar 2-0 lead against Converge.