PBA: Ginebra pounces on Taulava absence, beats NLEX

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Justin Brownlee led a fourth quarter breakaway and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel beat NLEX, 85-72, to get back on track in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Brownlee, who is filling in for the injured Paul Harris, scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter where the Kings pulled away from a one-point game after 36 minutes of action.

“We’re fortunate that he’s available. He’s obviously a really good import. He can do a lot of things. He’s very, very versatile,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said of Brownlee, who also collected 15 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

“I guess we took advantage of Asi’s absence. They couldn’t matchup against our big lineups and I think that’s how we pulled away in the fourth quarter,” said Cone.

NLEX missed the services of its starting center Asi Taulava.

Rookie Scottie Thompson also shone with eight points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals to help Ginebra up its record to 2-1 after 109-100 loss to Alaska in overtime.

“Really good effort on our part. We didn’t play well offensively in the first half but we did a good job on Bill Walker.”

Bill Walker had 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field with five turnovers in nearly 40 minutes of play for the Road Warriors.

Taulava served a one-game suspension for slapping San Miguel’s David Semerad in NLEX’s loss to the Beermen.