Import Shane Edwards rescues Ginebra in tune-up win over TNT

Edwards blows past Tyler for the go-ahead dunk, 99-98, with 27.5 ticks left. Ginebra crowd here at Upper Deck erupts. #PBA pic.twitter.com/5OdqCGRFos

— MG (@MarkGiongcoINQ) April 14, 2018

Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone was in a frown, his lips were curled and shook his head repeatedly for the most part of the Gin Kings’ tune-up game against TNT on Saturday.

Cone, however, still had a reason to smile about.

The Kings played catchup nearly the entire second half before outplaying the KaTropa down the stretch to win, 100-98, before a packed crowd at Upper Deck gym.

Shane Edwards, who is filling in for Justin Brownlee, scored five of Ginebra’s last six points inside the final minute, including the go-ahead two-handed dunk, 99-98, with 27.5 seconds left.

“We knew that Tyler was guarding him so we just try to get him into an isolation situation and beat him to the basket and that’s what he did,” Cone said, recalling Edwards’ game-winning slam.

Edwards, who hit a wide-open 3-pointer to trim TNT’s lead down to one with 57 ticks to go, finished with 25 points.

“He causes a lot of mismatch problems whether the imports gonna guard him or the locals gonna guard him so and he was very successful here with Alaska and that’s why we got attracted to him,” added Cone.

Ginebra also drew significant contributions from Japeth Aguilar and Sol Mercado, who sparked the comeback from nine points down.

Aguilar shot 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter while Mercado posted all of his nine points in that period.

The Gin Kings, who are still without the injured Greg Slaughter, also overcame a 33-point effort by KaTropa import Jeremy Tyler, who dominated the paint.

Terrence Romeo added 17 points for TNT while Troy Rosario and Jayson Castro scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.