MANILA, Philippines — Scottie Thompson came through the clutch, towing Barangay Ginebra past San Miguel Beer, 87-83, in a cardiac Game Five of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Sundaynight at the Big Dome.
Thompson accounted for six of the Gin Kings’ final seven points to put his team squarely on driver's seat as the game wound down.
The Beermen had multiple looks from downtown to tie the game with 23 ticks remaining, but they just couldn’t get a shot to fall. Chris Ross’ drifting attempt from near the left wing was ruled as out of bounds leading to a foul on Ginebra’s LA Tenorio.
Tenorio split his free throws but it iced the game as the clock was just down to two ticks.
“I guess everybody got what they wanted, a close game,” Ginebra head coach Tim Cone said. “It couldn't get any closer than that.”
“I remember in a timeout saying, ‘We’re all about defense and we're all about making stops. Our problem was we couldn't get rebounds. … But we made the stops when we had to and Justin made a couple of nice plays down the stretch, and we pulled it off,” he added.
“It's one of the toughest games I've played in the Finals. We got that crucial Game 5, but it's like ... we gotta make sure we don't win the battle and lose the war,” Cone noted.
Thompson, who fell flat on his back after colliding with San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo at the final minute of the payoff period, finished the game as Ginebra’s top scorer (20 points). His gritty performance was adorned with a double-double as he corraled 11 boards, too.
The reigning conference champions, who now stare at a 2-3 rut in the series, banked on Renaldo Balkman and June Mar Fajardo’s double-doubles. The Puerto Rican import had 34 points and 20 boards, while the lattter finished with 23 and 11.
But all that were put into naught as the Gin Kings bench provided the added punch. Ginebra’s secondary crew accounted for 13 points, a far cry to that of the San Miguel’s five.
The Gin Kings have a chance of toppling the Grand Slam-seeking Beermen this Wednesday when the series resumes at the Mall of Asia Arena.
But Cone knows this is far from over: “The war is still out there. We gotta go for there on Wednesday.”
The Scores:
Ginebra (87): Thompson 20, Brownlee 18, Tenorio 15, Slaughter 13, Devance 8, Aguilar 8, Chan 15, Mercado 0, Cruz 0, Ferrer 0
San Miguel (83): Balkman 34, Fajardo 23, Lassiter 13, Cabagnot 5, Ross 3, Standhardinger 3, Santos 2, Nabong 0
Quarter scores: 24-26, 40-40, 66-66, 87-83.