Barangay Ginebra Kings and the TNT Tropang Giga drew first blood in their respective semifinal duels in the 47th PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
The Kings warded off a spirited comeback by the San Miguel Beermen to chalk up a 121-112 win, while the Tropa had less trouble dispatching the Meralco Bolts, 110-80.
With the separate wins, Ginebra and TNT now hold 1-0 series leads in a pair of best-of-five semis series featuring sister teams.
Inspired by the presence of LA Tenorio, who recently revealed that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, the Kings raced to double-digit leads then showed the needed composure to thwart the rallying Beermen.
Ginebra looked headed to scoring an easy win when it posted a huge 90-69 lead before ending the third period with a 95-80 cushion.
San Miguel, however, came roaring back when it started the fourth with a blistering 15-0 run that knotted the contest at 95-all.
The Kings weathered the storm when Jamie Malonzo dropped a trifecta, Christian Standhardinger scored four straight points before Justin Brownlee, Stanley Pringle and Scottie Thompson joined the fray that triggered a 24-13 attack, allowing Ginebra to regain control, 119-108.
Stanhardinger paced the Kings with 33 points, Malonzo tallied 27 and Brownlee had 24.
Cameron Clark led the June Mar Fajardo-less Beermen with 26 points, while CJ Perez added 23.
TNT, for its part, drew a solid performance from import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in pulling off an easy win over Meralco.
Hollis-Jefferson stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, two steals and two blocks .
RR Pogoy shot 5-for-8 from three-point area to finish with 21 points.
KJ McDaniels topped the Bolts with 12 points and 14 boards.
THE SCORES
FIRST GAME
GINEBRA (121) – Standhardinger 33, Malonzo 27, Brownlee 24, Thompson 15, Gray 12, Pringle 7, Pinto 3, Pessumal 0.
SAN MIGUEL ( 112) – Clark 26, Perez 23, Lassiter 20, Cruz 13, Tautuaa 11, Manuel 10, Bulanadi 3, Enciso 3, Herndon 3, Brondial 0, Ross 0.
QUARTERS: 25-22, 62-47, 95-80, 121-112.
SECOND GAME
TNT (110) – Hollis-Jefferson 22, Pogoy 21, Oftana 15, M.Williams 14, Castro 12, Khobuntin 7, Tungcab 6, Montalbo 5, Chua 4, Erram 4, Acuno 0, Cruz 0, Varilla 0, Marcelo 0, Ganuelas-Rosser 0.
MERALCO (80) – McDaniels 12, Quinto 11, Newsome 10, Almazan 10, Hodge 9, Jose 9, Black 7, Dario 5, Johnson 3, Hugnatan 2, Maliksi 2, Banchero 0, Caram 0, Pasaol 0, Rios 0, Pascual 0.
QUARTERS: 31-19, 57-45, 92-66, 11-80
Image courtesy of PBA Media Bureau
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