Brownlee's third quarter explosion carries Ginebra to Game 1 win vs. San Miguel

Justin Brownlee caught fire from deep in the third quarter as Barangay Ginebra took advantage of a weary San Miguel side, 122-105, to draw first blood in their best-of-seven semifinals affair in the PBA Season 49 Governors' Cup on Wednesday at the PhilSports Arena. 

The resident import waxed hot from the four-point area in the penultimate quarter, scoring 20 of his overall output to help the Gin Kings turn a five-point halftime lead to as big as 28 and take Game 1 of the lengthy series. 

Brownlee, who had the luxury of resting for most of the fourth quarter after building enough cushion for his team, finished with 33 points on near-perfect 5-of-6 shooting from four while also grabbing eight rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

"I thought we played a really good first half, but we knew we needed to play an even better second half and that was the message. We were pleased with the way we played in the first half, we were playing in the rhythm we wanted to play," Ginebra head coach Tim Cone. 

"And this guy in my right (Brownlee), he came out and hit some shot after shot after shot that really extended the lead for us."

Ginebra was enjoying a slim 63-58 lead at the break over the Beermen, who were keeping it close despite coming off a grueling five-game quarterfinal series against Converge just last Sunday, before Brownlee ignited in the third. 

He first buried two consecutive triples before knocking down three four-point shots and completing a floater that pushed their lead to 97-76 as San Miguel found no answers to his hot shooting. 

San Miguel, however, leaned on import EJ Anosike, who would score 11 of their 20-10 run to cut the deficit to 14, 98-112, with still 4:28 to go in the fourth. 

Despite Brownlee riding the bench at the point, Ginebra had enough manpower to extinguish the Beermen with Stephen Holt, Scottie Thompson, and even Joe Devance putting the finishing kick for the Gin Kings. 

Holt ended up leading the locals in scoring with a whopping 30-point outing laced with eight rebounds and four assists while RJ Abarrientos chopped in 13 markers and five dimes. 

Scores:

Barangay Ginebra 122 – Brownlee 33, Holt 30, Abarrientos 13, Thompson 10, Ahanmisi 9, J.Aguilar 9, Pinto 9, Devance 8, Adamos 1, Cu 0.

San Miguel 105 – Anosike 27, Lassiter 18, Fajardo 16, Perez 13, Ross 7, Rosales 6, Romeo 6, Enciso 6, Cruz 4, Tautuaa 2, Nava 0, Brondial 0.

Quarters : 27-28, 63-58, 97-78, 122-105.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News