MANILA — The defending champion Barangay Ginebra Kings overwhelmed the Meralco Bolts, 102-87, in Game 1 of their PBA Governors’ Cup finals at the Quezon Convention Center in Friday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Justin Brownlee torched the Bolts with 32 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field on top of 19 rebounds and six assists in over 44 minutes of action.
Ginebra’s twin towers dominated the Meralco frontline with Japeth Aguilar firing 15 markers along with four boards, and three blocks. His partner Greg Slaughter came off the bench to scatter 14 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks in just 21 minutes.
Kevin Ferrer also came off the bench to deliver 11 points including three triples along with six boards and three dimes. LA Tenorio added 10 markers, five assists and one rebound. Joe Devance chipped in nine points, five rebounds and two assists.
Brownlee came off on top in his personal matchup with Meralco’s Allen Durham, the Best Import awardee in last year’s Governors’ Cup, who is a shoo-in favorite to win the same award this year.
Durham still led the Bolts with 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field along with 14rebounds and eight assists. But he found little local support with only Baser Amer and Mike Tolomia scoring in double digits—14 points for Amer and 10 for Tolomia.
The Kings started like a house on fire with Brownlee scoring nine points in the first quarter, which Ginebra took, 29-18. The do-it-all import also finished the game on a blazing note, firing 13 more points in the fourth quarter. His three-pointer from the top of the key gave the Kings their biggest lead, 96-75, with less than six minutes left, virtually sealing the win.
The Kings outrebounded the Bolts, 60-40, and limited them to just 39 percent shooting (44-of-86) while hitting 40 of 47 shots for a decent 45 percent clip.
The Bolts managed to cut the Kings’ lead to four, 75-71, after a four-point play by Tolomia with 4.9 seconds left in third quarter. But the Gin Kings responded with a huge run, building a 21-point lead, 96-75, on a Brownlee triple with 5:05 left to play.
