By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel rallied from 18 points down to stun the San Miguel Beermen, 87-85, to close out the semifinal series in a sweeping 3-0 fashion and reach another PBA Governor’s Cup grand finals qualification last March 29, 2023.
Superstar big man Christian Standhardinger once again answered the call for the Gin Kings after draining the go-ahead deuce assisted by no other than resident super import Justin Brownlee.
With 14 seconds left in the ball game and the game tied up at 85-all, Brownlee decided to attack the basket after seven seconds that immediately attracted two defenders once he reached the paint area.
Brownlee then saw the wide-open Standhardinger in the right blow and threw a pocket pass that completed their stellar come-from-behind victory to finish off San Miguel in just three-straight games.
In need of something new to kick off a great start, San Miguel put Chris Ross and Moala Tautuaa in the starting lineup that matched Ginebra’s firepower quickly in the first frame.
Despite Ginebra’s waxing hot offense, San Miguel was still able to inch close and retook the lead when Simon Enciso and Jericho Cruz caught fire in the second half.
It was raining threes at the SMART Araneta Coliseum after the backcourt duo sank their trifectas at will that swelled their cushion to as much as 18 points that left Ginebra and head coach Tim Cone frustrated heading into the dugout.
From settling for three-pointers and perimeter jumpers, Ginebra turned it up in the second half and decided to attack San Miguel’s interior that trimmed their deficit to just a single digit heading into the fourth.
It was then the Standhardinger-Brownlee show in the most crucial stretch of the final canto as the duo carried Ginebra with their paint-scoring and efficient shooting from the field.
“To be honest, from a coaching standpoint, I was just wondering, do I pull our guys out and live to fight another day on Friday or do we keep going at it? That was my battle throughout the whole third and fourth quarter,” said Ginebra’s head coach Cone.
Brownlee led all Ginebra scorers with 22 points and 14 rebounds while Standhardinger added 14 points and 17 boards in the Game 3 win.
