Barangay Ginebra overcomes Bay Area, draws first blood in PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals

In front of a crowd of 18,252, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel overcame the Bay Area Dragons, 96-81, to draw first blood in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals on Christmas Day Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Dragons were down by 11, 72-61, with less than a minute left in the third period before they cut the deficit to within five, 74-69, early in the fourth period. 

But Ginebra pulled away in the middle of the final frame and made an 8-0 run to gain enough cushion, 88-74, with 4:08 left in the game. It was enough to hand Ginebra control despite Bay Area's attempts late in the game.

Bay Area had the upper hand early in the match and led 34-26, before Ginebra finished the first half with a 45-40 lead.

Justin Brownlee registered a double-double performance of 28 points and 13 rebounds, while LA Tenorio tallied 22 markers in the Game 1 win.

Christian Standhardinger also had a double-double and posted 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Scottie Thompson flirted with a double-double and listed 14 points and nine boards. While limited to just three points, Jamie Malonzo had 10 boards in the victory.

Andrew Nicholson posted 27 points and 12 rebounds for Bay Area, while Glen Yang and Songwei Zhu scored 12 points each in the loss. Kobey Lam added 11 points in the losing effort.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven finals will be played on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The scores:

Ginebra 96 – Brownlee 28, Tenorio 22, Standhardinger 16, Thompson 14, J.Aguilar 6, Pringle 5, Malonzo 3, Gray 2, Pessumal 0, R.Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.

Bay Area 81 – Nicholson 27 Ynag 12, Zhu 12, Lam 11, Ju 6, Song 5, Blankley 4, Liu 2, Zheng 2, Reid 0.

Quarters: 22-25, 45-40, 72-64, 96-81.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News