The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings dominated an overmatched Kia Picanto side, 120-99, as they made it back-to-back double-digit wins in the Oppo PBA Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Justin Brownlee tallied 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a strong showing while Greg Slaughter was solid down low with 18 points, six boards and five assists as well. Mark Caguioa, too, sizzled as he went for 16 points in under 14 minutes of play. He shot 8-for-9 from the field.
Ginebra improved to 2-1 in the conference after a second straight win while Kia continued to flounder at the bottom with a 0-4 record.
Led by Brownlee, Ginebra jumped out to a comfortable lead in the first quarter. Brownlee scored 13 points in the opening period as the Kings took a 33-18 advantage. They were able to maintain that lead heading into the halftime break, 58-43, after dueling the Picanto to a draw in the second period.
But the crowd favorites brought out their best in the third, where they started off with a 16-2 run.
Brownlee and LA Tenorio knocked down triples while Japeth Aguilar scored to make it an 8-0 run to open the half. After a basket from Kia’s Reden Celda on the other end, Ginebra came out with eight more unanswered points – six of those coming from their import, who drilled another trey and completed a three-point play as part of the blistering run.
That gave the Kings a whopping 29-point lead, 74-45, at the 8:37 mark of the third quarter.
Ginebra finished the period leading 92-64 and pushed their lead to a high of 34 points after Caguioa scored the first six points of the fourth quarter.
