Scottie Thompson scored 19 points, including a crucial triple in the crucial minutes of the last period as he and Justin Brownlee propelled the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings to a 115-100 stopping of the Meralco Bolts Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Brownlee knocked in a game-high 40 points for the Gin Kings, who took a 3-2 lead after Game 5 of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup best-of-seven finals series.
Brownlee’s production was also the most scored in a PBA finals game since TNT’s Terrence Jones had 41 in San Miguel Beer’s title-clinching 102-90 win in Game 6 of 2019 Commissioner’s Cup.
Thompson’s trey with 2:18 left that handed the Gin Kings an eight-point cushion, 105-97, was Ginebra’s 16th in the game, equalling a franchise all-time record after previously making 16 recently in its series-clinching Game 4 of its semis match with NLEX, a 112-93 win last March 30.
“We made a couple of nice plays when they got down to two. And Scottie made that big 3, and it gave us some breathing room,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.
Thompson’s big three came as he and Christian Standhardinger combined for a 7-0 run that allowed Ginebra to move away after the Bolts came close off Aaron Black’s layup, 97-98, with 4:44 to go.
The reigning titleholders, lifted up by the big cheers of a huge pro-Barangay Ginebra crowd of 18,251, could finish off the Bolts in Game 6 on Wednesday, 6 p.m.
Tony Bishop had 30 points for the Bolts as he made up for a scoreless first period with 18 points in the fourth.