Gin Kings blow huge 26-point lead but hold on to defeat Beermen in OT and tie series at 1-1
Barangay Ginebra survived a huge comeback from San Miguel Beer and escaped with a 124-118 overtime win in Game 2 of the PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals series at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.
Scottie Thompson scored four of his 18 points in overtime to help the Gin Kings chalk up the win and tie the series at 1-1. The hardworking guard also had 18 rebounds and eight assists for Ginebra, which led by as many as 26 points in the game.
Ginebra, coming off a 27-point rout in Game 1, started like a house on fire as Kevin Ferrer ignited the team’s scoring to help the Kings erect a 65-39 lead in the second quarter.
The defending champion Beermen, however, would come roaring back in the third behind the hot shooting of Marcio Lassiter, who scored 16 of his 21 in the period.
Lassiter’s efforts sliced Ginebra’s lead to just two points, 82-84, after a three-pointer over Ginebra’s Sol Mercado. But Lassiter was called for a technical foul for taunting after the shot. He was ejected from the game at the 1:00 mark for his second technical.
The Beermen were just down by three, 82-85, going into the final period after scoring 39 points in the third.
They finally took the lead, 96-95, after three freethrows by Ronald Tubid in the fourth.
San Miguel looked headed for the upset win when it took a 110-108 lead with just 3.2 seconds but Joe Devance made a buzzer beater tip in off his own missed shot that sent the game to overtime.
Ginebra was off to a hot start in the extra session, sparking an 8-2 run for a 118-112 lead.
Tubid, looking to make up for a blunder late in regulation when he called for a timeout on a fastbreak play with the Beermen only up by one, made two straight three pointers to tie the game at 118.
But that was the last hurrah for San Miguel, which lost key players down the stretch.
Aside from losing Lassiter, June Mar Fajardo was also out after being called for his sixth foul late in the fourth. San Miguel also lost Chris Ross to fouls in the finals minutes of overtime.
With three out of the five starters missing, the Beermen failed to deliver in the closing minute of the game while Ginebra got baskets from Devance, Thompson and Mercado to seal the win.
Japeth Aguilar led the Kings with 23 points. The Beermen were led by the 23 of Arwind Santos.
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