Gin Kings sweep Beermen, return to familiar PBA finals territory

MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra dealt the proud and mighty San Miguel Beer its first 0-3 loss in a best-of-five contest on its way to a fifth PBA Governors’ Cup finals appearance.

Showing a no-quit attitude despite trailing by as many as 18 points, the Gin Kings worked their way to a pulsating 87-85 comeback victory in Game 3 to close out SMB Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Christian Standhardinger hit the go-head bucket off a nifty set up by Justin Brownlee to complete the searing fightback that kept their three-peat bid in the season-ending meet rolling.

They now wait for TNT and Meralco to settle their side of the Final Four to determine their challenger in the best-of-seven finale that kicks off on Easter Sunday.

“Certainly different from the first two games. Just real struggle,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said after the thrilling escape that was in stark contrast to their runaway triumphs in the first two, 121-112 and 121-103.

Cone was relieved to have done the seemingly impossible — beat mighty SMB in three straight games – while achieving the first 3-0 shutout win for the Ginebra franchise in a five-match series.

“I was ready to give up on that one (3-0 sweep) at various times of the game. But the players wouldn’t quit. If I may borrow from coach Sonny (Jaworksi), it’s NSD, never-say-die, at its finest,” he said.

“Every timeout, I was looking into their eyes, at their body language to see if they’re ready to pack it in and go fight on Friday. But I never saw it so I stayed with them. We made a couple of big shots and nice stops and before we knew it, we won the game,” he added.

SMB still had control, 82-77, before Standhardinger, Jeremiah Gray and Brownlee led a fiery finish for Ginebra.

Though Marcio Lassiter managed to knot it at 85-all with his booming triple, the Gin Kings quickly wrested the driver’s seat in the next sequence via the Brownlee-to-Standhardinger winning play.

Lassiter tried to steal it for SMB with his buzzer-beating three-point attempt but failed to hit the mark, allowing Ginebra and its faithful to celebrate yet another finals entry.

Brownlee produced 22 markers, 14 rebounds and seven assists while Scottie Thompson (17-11) and Standhardinger (14-17) added double-double numbers for Ginebra, which booked Finals appearance No. 5 in the last six staging of the season-ender.