Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings’ Jeremiah Gray. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra pulled away late to zoom past TNT in the PBA on Tour, 81-67, at Ynares Sports Center, Pasig, on Friday.
The Gin Kings led after three quarters, 56-55, in what seemed to be a down-the-wire affair in the offing.
However, Jeremiah Gray, who finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, had other plans. He scored 11 of his 18 all in the final frame.
“I just came out really aggressive in the fourth quarter and started looking for my shots a little more and luckily for me tonight, it just fell in that quarter. It was a good one for me,” told the sharpshooting guard.
Tropang Giga even tasted the lead at one point, 62-61, before the Gin Kings shut the door on them with a 13-3 run sparked by a Von Pessumal triple to take a 74-65 lead with 8:48 remaining.
Ginebra never looked back and buried TNT on defense, limiting the squad to only 12 payoff period points. The Gin Kings had 25.
Tropang Giga, who tallied their eighth loss in nine outings in the preseason, fumbled the ball 17 times resulting in 19 markers for the Gin Kings.
Ginebra also got commendable distributions from Sidney Onwubere, who finished with a double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds as they improve to a 5-5 record.
Glenn Khobuntin was the sole double-digit scorer for TNT with 25 markers and nine boards but to no avail.