Justin Brownlee. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Justin Brownlee and LA Tenorio took turns all night long to power Barangay Ginebra past Magnolia, 103-80, and seize control of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinal series Sunday night at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Brownlee poured the glut of his 38-point outing in the second quarter, while Tenorio scattered most of his 20 points in the final two frames to help send the Gin Kings to a 2-1 lead.
“It’s only one win in the column, it doesn’t give you any pogi points going into the next game. We know we have to be better next game. We don’t want to go in a Game 5, because a lot of things could happen in a Game 5,” said head coach Tim Cone.
“I came in wanting to be aggressive and efficient,” added Brownlee, who added nine rebounds and seven assists, and team-best scoring output catapulted him in the company of an elite cast.
The Gin Kings’ beloved reinforcement, whose bid to gain Filipino citizenship is nearing completion, became the fifth import in league history to reach 5,000 career points after Norman Black, Bobby Parks, Sean Chambers, and the late Lee Massey.
Magnolia, which didn’t have Game 2 hero Paul Lee due to flu-like symptoms, drew 16 points from Jio Jalalon. Import Nick Rakocevic was held to just 10 points as Aris Dionisio and Adrian Wong tried to fill the gaps in production with 10 each.
Barangay Ginebra will go for the kill this Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.