Barangay Ginebra celebrates its latest PBA Governors’ Cup championship. PBA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Barangay Ginebra turned in a blistering third quarter and used an even feistier finishing kick to take down Meralco, 103-92, as the Gin Kings repeated as PBA Governors’ Cup champions Friday night at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Import Justin Brownlee scored 17 of his 24 points in the third period, while LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, and Christian Standhardinger took turns in the payoff frame to reassert their mastery over the Bolts in six games and in the process claim the 14th PBA title overall before another pandemic record of 20,224 fans.
Tenorio topscored with 30 points while Thompson, who had 15 points in Game 6, was named the Finals’ Most Valuable Player.
Standhardinger finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Back on top. @barangayginebra #PBAFinals pic.twitter.com/Z6hBY2Rul3
— PBA (@pbaconnect) April 22, 2022
The victory caps a whirlwind campaign for Ginebra which battled through a wobbly classification round and then survived a mighty, twice-to-beat TNT side in the quarterfinals.
“It’s a little bit shocking for us, because we were so far down at one point. I mean, we had really reached the bottom of the barrel, and there was a point where I didn’t think we were gonna emerge and make a statement this conference,” said head coach Tim Cone. “But again, we have a very veteran team. We have great veteran leadership, and the leadership really stepped up.”
This is the Gin Kings’ fourth title in the last five editions of the season-ending tournament. Cone also hiked his collection to 24 titles, the most by any coach in league history.
Ginebra rallied from 1-2 down in the series to pull off a streak even with cornerstone Japeth Aguilar playing through a bum calf.