Ginebra beats Meralco to repeat as Governors' Cup champion

Japeth Aguilar denies Allen Durham in the first half of Game Seven. KC Cruz

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is still the king of the Governors' Cup.

The Gin Kings had a stellar first half before struggling to put away a gritty Meralco side, 101-96, in Game Seven of their finals series on Friday before another mammoth crowd at the Philippine Arena.

Up by just four points early in the second period, the Gin Kings uncorked a 19-3 run to stretch their lead to 20 points, 52-32, following a basket by import Justin Brownlee at the 3:20 mark.

Ginebra was held scoreless until the end of the quarter, but the Bolts struggled to capitalize as only Cliff Hodge and Jared Dillinger scored to bring the Gin Kings lead down to 15 at the half, 52-37.

Meralco tried to claw back late in the fourth period, coming to within nine points, 94-85, on back-to-back fastbreak layups from Anjo Caram.

A basket by Chris Newsome cut the Ginebra lead further, 100-93. with 1:11 left. Jared Dillinger followed that up with a three-pointer to cut the lead to four points with 47 seconds remaining.

But an LA Tenorio split gave the Gin Kings a little more breathing room, as thye clamped down in the final Meralco play to come away with the title anew.

Tenorio was named Most Valuable Player of the series after pouring in 26 points in the title-clincher. Brownlee added 23 points.

Last season, Ginebra ended their eight-year championship drought against the same squad, when Brownlee hit a pull-up three-pointer over Meralco counterpart Allen Durham to break the deadlock at the buzzer and give his team a dramatic 91-88 victory in Game 6. --JST, GMA News

The scores:

GINEBRA 101 - Tenorio 26, Brownlee 23, Thompson 14, Slaughter 12, Aguilar 10, Devance 10, Caguioa 4, Ferrer 2.

MERALCO 96 - Durham 26, Dillinger 20, Hodge 14, Newsome 11, Caram 9, Hugnatan 7, Amer 6, Lanete 3.

Quarters: 27-19, 52-37, 81-64, 101-96.