PBA: Ginebra pulls away, beats Barako Bull to stay in playoff hunt

Jiwan Kim (middle). PBA IMAGES

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel pulled away in the fourth quarter behind a solid performance from its bench to cruise past Barako Bull, 120-98, and stay in playoff contention in the 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Backup big man Rodney Brondial and Emman Monfort led the Kings’ second group with their energy sparking a fourth-quarter run.
“It’s all about energy and effort and our hustle which was given to us by Emman, Rodney, Dave (Marcelo), OJ (Johnson) and Jiwan,” said Ginebra head coach Frankie Lim.

Brondial and Monfort teamed up with Sol Mercado, Asian import Kim Jiwan and Dave Marcelo in a crucial stretch for the Kings, who had a blistering fourth quarter scoring 39 points to turn the game into a blowout.

Ginebra entered the fourth quarter with just a four-point lead but it only took five minutes for the Kings to break the game open. A tip-in by Brondial made it a nine-point game before five unanswered points from Jiwan pushed Ginebra’s lead to 12, 99-87, with 8:13 left.

Brondial finished with 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field with six rebounds, four coming on the offensive end, while Monfort, one of the smallest players in the league, had 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Jiwan, the Korean sharpshooter, scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth period.

“Gusto ko lang talaga magbigay ng effort at energy (I just really want to bring effort and energy). Nagpapasalamat din ako sa mga Ginebra fans (I thank all the Ginebra fans), just keep believing,” the 5-foot-6 Monfort said.

“Guys coming off the bench brought a lot of energy to the team. I had problems with my starters especially in the first quarter, they couldn’t execute for us,” Lim said.

Barako Bull import Liam McMorrow scored 32 points but grabbed measly 11 rebounds way below his 21.8 per game average. The Energy blew a chance to book a seat in the top four and dropped their third straight game after starting the conference with a 6-1 record.

Guard Joseph Yeo dropped 18 points against his former team Ginebra but scored only two points in the second half. CFC