PBA: San Miguel frustrates Ginebra to gain share of top seed

San Miguel import Cameron Clark against Ginebra. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–San Miguel kept it together at the most critical times on Wednesday night to keep Barangay Ginebra at bay, 102-99, and claim a share of the lead of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

Import Cameron Clark finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds, coming through in a tight endgame that helped the Beermen to a 7-1 record and assured the club a spot in the quarterfinals.

“I told the players that for us to win in this game, we had to play for all of 48 minutes and not let them get a chance to take advantage of our lapses,” said head coach Jorge Gallent, whose charges got a streak going after losing to Converge.

CJ Perez scored 20 points while June Mar Fajardo chipped in 12 on top of 18 boards. Vic Manuel added 10 more in the effort that primes the club going into its titanic showdown with TNT, which sports an identical record.

Barangay Ginebra, still reeling from a 30-point beatdown at the hands of another team, managed to keep it interesting all thanks to Christian Standhardinger, who finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

Justin Brownlee added 21 points for a grand career total of 5,406 that installed the resident backup as No. 4 in the all-time scoring list among imports.

But with San Miguel playing with unshakable poise, the defending champions had no choice but to settle for yet another loss—their second in five outings in their title-retention bid.

Jeremiah Gray had 14 points while Scottie Thompson added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Gin Kings take on 1-6 Blackwater next before backstopping the national cage program in the sixth and final window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Feb. 24.