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LUCENA—Joe Devance may have sent Game 2 into overtime but Barangay Ginebra’s win had Scottie Thompson’s fingerprints all over it.
Thompson posted jaw-dropping numbers Sunday night with 18 points, career-high 18 rebounds and eight assists as the Gin Kings evened the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Finals at 1-1.
“I just didn’t stop. I was thinking that I hope they tire out looking for me when rebounding,” Thompson said in Filipino after Ginebra outlasted San Miguel, 124-118, in OT.
“Coach Tim said that whoever wants this more will be the one to get the win. And I really wanted to win this to tie the series.”
Thompson and the Gin Kings had to muster whatever strength they had left after blowing a 26-point lead and nearly dropping the game had it not been for Deviance’s last-second followup off his own miss at the end of regulation.
“It was really a tough game. We got up early, but San Miguel knows how to fight back. It was really a credit to the coaching staff, to coach Tim, because they really looked at how San Miguel played defense on us. They gave everyone of us confidence, so the least we wanted to do was to repay that faith they had on us.”
Ginebra seeks to sustain that run in Game 3 on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.