BARANGAY Ginebra San Miguel caught Magnolia on its bad hair day and scored a 99-84 victory on Wednesday and claim the first finals berth in Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Veteran playmaker LA Tenorio started the Gin Kings’ early run and stayed in command with import Justin Brownlee and Japeth Aguilar imposing their will almost throughout the game to close out their best-of-five semifinals series, 3-1.
Brownlee had an all-around performance of 24 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, two steals and five blocks, more than enough to deny his counterpart, Serbian Nicholas Rakocevic, who shot an atrocious 3-of-13 shooting from the field for 13 points and 13 rebounds for Magnolia.
“I’m thankful for the confidence given by the coaching staff. That’s big to every player because it helps a lot in our execution to create a lot of open shots within our offense,” said Tenorio, who posted 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter.
He also added five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Aguilar racked up 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and had eight rebounds while Scottie Thompson had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Jamie Malonzo contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Ginebra.
The Gin Kings posted their biggest lead at 71-47 in the third period.
Calvin Abueva had 14 points and six rebounds for Magnolia, who saw from Paul Lee struggle with his shots and finished with only nine points.
