By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel leaned on a solid fourth-quarter performance to repel the resilient Meralco Bolts squad, 100-92, to take Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals on February 5, 2025, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Despite mounting several scoring runs that pushed their lead to as much as eight points thrice from the first to the third quarter, the Gin Kings still failed to balloon the gap as Meralco hosted a crucial fightback when the final frame kicked off.
Meralco officially completed their comeback attempt at the 10:59 mark of the fourth after Aaron Black gave them the lead off a breakaway layup.
Black wasn’t done doing his damage as the Bolts went to him at the post and exposed his size mismatch over Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos, scoring on a back-down push shot.
Just when the Bolts thought that their waxing hot run could sustain them in the game, the Gin Kings played spoiler and received a clutch closing performance from the trio of Abarrientos, Justin Brownlee, and Scottie Thompson.
The trio’s timely buckets sucked the life out of the Meralco squad and helped the Gin Kings push back their cushion to seven points, 96-89, courtesy of a difficult long two-pointer from Thompson.
Although Meralco had a little sigh of relief when Chris Newsome and import Akil Mitchell responded, Brownlee’s takeover ended their hopes of stealing Game 1 after draining the much-needed buckets in the remaining three minutes of the ball game.
From a slim 90-89 lead in the final 6:35, the Gin Kings pulled off a momentum-boosting 7-0 run that kicked off their clutch outing in the most crucial stretch of the fourth.
Brownlee and Thompson capped off the Game 1 victory with a game-high 23-point performance, while Abarrientos added 14 points.
“Lahat naman kami, ‘yung mga beterano, maganda ‘yung nilaro kasi alam namin kung ano ‘yung naka-stake ng game na ‘to, kung saan kami dadalhin parating sa Finals. Ito yung start.” Thompson said after the Game 1 win.
The Gin Kings will look to wrap up their quarterfinal series if they win Game 2 against Meralco today, in the first game of the scheduled PBA playoff doubleheader.
