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MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra gutted out an 80-77 victory over Alaska to take its opening win in the 2021 PBA Governors’ Cup Sunday at Ynares Sports Arena.
The Gin Kings, who played four days after the start of the tournament, used a 13-2 run punctuated by LA Tenorio for a 77-73 cushion with 13 seconds to play.
Alaska, though, still had a chance to send the game into overtime but Maverick Ahanmisi and Robbie Herndon rushed a play, despite their team still owning a timeout, resulting in a turnover with 10 seconds remaining.
“We got really big baskets towards the end and we got a couple of key stops and loose ball recoveries, that’s where I think the game changed for us,” said Ginebra head coach Tim Cone.
“We were playing uphill the whole game and we were playing from behind pretty much the whole game and never got to a big lead.”
Justin Brownlee led Ginebra with 28 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks in his first game back with the team after the 2019 Governors’ Cup.
Olu Ashaolu had 19 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Aces who fell to a 2-1 record and who are now at the fourth seed behind the Gin Kings.