Down goes San Miguel.
In one of the more strainge endings to this season, Brgy. Ginebra snapped a three-game slide by scoring a 100-96 come-from-behind win over San Miguel in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup Sunday at the Big Dome.
Confusion marred the final seconds of the contest.
With the Gin Kings up, 98-95, Arwind Santos missed two triples that would have tied the game. However, after the second miss, Chico Lanete was able to draw a foul during the rebound play.
That's when the confusion set in because it was Chris Ross that ended up taking the first of the two free throws for San Miguel with 4.5 seconds left.
Ross was called for a technical foul obviously but the Beermen point guard argued that it was the refs that handed him the ball to shoot. Replay showed that that was indeed the case.
LA Tenorio ended up making the technical free throw for Ginebra and Lanete did take his free throws on the other end.
Lanete split and the Gin Kings regained possession after the ball bounced off of Ross' chest in the rebound play.
Japeth Aguilar split his final attempts from the line with 1.5 seconds to go to seal the final tally.
"It was tough. Who would've thought that we can come out and wiin that game after the way we've played the last three games?" head coach Tim Cone said.
"We got ahead and started believing. I think we forget how good of a team we can be," he added.
With June Mar Fajardo up front, the three-time defending champions pounded on the Gin Kings early.
San Miguel raced to a 23-8 lead after a 13-0 run in the first quarter. Before the period even ended, the Beermen were already on top by 16, 33-17.
However, Ginebra got big performances from a number of players by the second half.
By the third quarter, Tenorio and Aguilar outscored San Miguel on their own as the Gin Kings too control, firing a 16-0 blast for a 68-61 lead.
The momentum continued into the fourth as the barangay led by as many as 14, 80-66, before holding on during the wild finish.
Aguilar and Tenorio led the way with 23 points apiece, scoring 13 and 12 points respectively in the third quarter.
Jervy Cruz came off the bench to drop 17, 10 in the fourth, while Raymond Aguilar added another 16 points for the now 3-3 Gin Kings.
For San Miguel, who saw its five-game run snapped, it was Fajardo that came through, scoring 33 points, 14 in the opening period, on top of 11 rebounds.
Ross and Marcio Lassiter had 16 each for the Beermen.
The Scores:
GINEBRA 100 — Tenorio 23, J. Aguilar 23, Cruz 17, R. Aguilar 16, Ferrer 11, Thompson 6, Caguioa 2, Mercado 2, Wilson 0.
SAN MIGUEL 96 — Fajardo 33, Ross 16, Lassiter 16, Santos 12, Lanete 7, Ganuelas-Rosser 6, Pessumal 4, Heruela 2, De Ocampo 0, Mamaril 0.
Quarters: 19-33, 44-52, 75-66, 100-96.
SOURCE: https://sports.abs-cbn.com/basketball/news/2018/01/28/gin-kings-overcome-beermen-wild-contest-36808
