Barangay Ginebra is the PBA Philippine Cup champion. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines — The drought is over for Barangay Ginebra after winning its first Philippine Cup title in 13 years following an 82-78 win over TNT on Wednesday night.
Japeth Aguilar tied his career-high with 32 points to lead the Gin Kings, who captured their 13th overall championship.
Aguilar, who went 8-of-12 from the field and had nine rebounds and three steals, capped off his sterling performance with an emphatic dunk off a lob from LA Tenorio that gave Ginebra a 78-73 cushion with less than two minutes remaining.
“When this thing started, we really didn’t have a lot of expectations for ourselves we were just thinking can we make the playoffs?” said Cone, the winningest coach in league history, after winning his 23rd crown.
That’s it @barangayginebra finish off TNT, 82-78!
Kings of this extraordinary season indeed! #PBAbubbleXInquirer@sonrdINQ#PBAFinals pic.twitter.com/UHAWBZgkR1
— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) December 9, 2020
“But these guys behind just kept working and working and working and I’m just proud of them.”
Tenorio hit the title-clinching free throws with 7.6 ticks left. The 36-year-old guard went on to win the Finals MVP award.
Minus two of their stars in Jayson Castro and Ray Parks, TNT hung tough and even took a 73-68 lead with five minutes left.
But the Gin Kings responded with Stanley Pringle hitting back-to-back triples to regain the lead for good.