The Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings refused to let the TNT Tropang Giga move within reach of their second title in the 49th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors Cup.
The Gin Kings came out with their guns blazing in the last period, sending them to a 108-92 demolition of the Tropang Giga on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum
Justin Brownlee banged in a game-high 34 points and had six rebounds for the Gin Kings, who tied their best-of-seven title at 2-all when Game 4 ended before an audience that reached 16,783.
But when Brownlee got held to four points in the last quarter, the Gin King turned to Maverick Ahanmisi and Stephen Holt to get the job done.
After the Tropang Giga came came close at, 83-90, triples from Ahanmisi and Holt kept Ginebra out of range, 104-92, in the final 1:28.
“This is the finals. It’s going to be a tough call, offensively. Everybody wants to win so badly that its hardly about making shots,” said said Tim Cone.
The Tropang Giga, with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Calvin Oftana showing the way with 28 points and 26 points, manage to hold down Brownlee’s scoring in the last period.
But, Ahanmisi and Holt took over as TNT focused their defense on Brownlee and they finished with 18 points with Japeth Aguilar.
Aguilar teamed up with Brownlee in the third period, both hitting 12 points apiece as the Gin Kings stayed ahead, 85-77.
Meanwhile, June Mar Fajardo was once again hailed as the Best Player of the Conference award, giving the San Miguel star his 11th in the league.
Fajardo led the statistical points race from the end of the elimination round to the semifinals’ conclusion, finishing with 44.8 SPs.
His performance allowed him to outshine Import candidates teammate EJ Anosike and Rain or Shine’s Aaron Fuller.
The 6’10 Fajardo averaged of 21.0 points, a league-leading 16.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1 block for the conference.
Japeth Aguilar was at far second with 664 points, followed by teammate Scottie Thompson (465), NorthPort star Arvin Tolentino (421), Robert Bolick of NLEX (401), and SMB guard CJ Perez (366).
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of TNT brought home the Best Import award
