Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the Titan Ultra Giant Risers faced off in the final elimination round game of the Season 50 PBA Philippine Cup. Ginebra’s final seeding was on the line, while the Giant Risers were looking to end their maiden conference on a winning note. It was the former, however, that got the 108–105 win, but not without some tense moments at various parts of the game held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
What Happened?
Titan Ultra played like a team with nothing to lose, racing out to an early 30–19 lead and extending it to 55–42 behind the hot hands of Joshua Munzon and the all-around ferocity of Calvin Abueva. But the crowd favorites woke up in the third, outscoring the Giant Risers, 31–20, to cut the lead to 75–73 entering the fourth quarter.
Abueva and company were still ahead, 78–74, when Ginebra went on an 18–4 run to zoom ahead, 92–82. Titan Ultra, though, launched one final rally, getting to within 106–105 after back-to-back four-pointers courtesy of Munzon and Abueva. That was as far as the Giant Risers would go, as Ginebra ultimately held on for its seventh win against four losses.
Who Stood Out?
Stephen Holt and RJ Abarrientos did most of the heavy lifting for Ginebra, with Holt finishing with a team-high 27 points, on top of four rebounds and two assists. Abarrientos, meanwhile, delivered 24 markers and six dimes and quarterbacked Ginebra’s fourth-quarter run. Scottie Thompson added 11 points, six rebounds, and nine assists.
Munzon was terrific for Titan Ultra, putting up a game-high 31 points, spiced up by four rebounds and eight assists. He also had a six-point cluster down the stretch—two freebies and a four-pointer—to keep the Giant Risers’ upset bid alive for a while.
Three Keys to the Game
- NSD spirit. For about the first 30 minutes of the game, it looked like Ginebra was dead in the water. But the crowd darlings dug deep and displayed that familiar never-say-die mantra to cut Titan Ultra’s 15-point lead to just two points after three quarters. Ginebra continued that NSD run well into the fourth quarter to build enough of a cushion to fend off the Giant Risers in the end.
- Bench play. Ginebra’s bench mob once again came up big, giving the squad 52 huge points. Abarrientos was obviously the main driver with his 24 points off the bench, but Ralph Cu’s 12 points—all on triples—were massive as well, as were Norbert Torres’s eight markers and Jayson David’s four points, along with some great defence.
- Three-point shooting. Ginebra’s three-point shooting routinely blows hot and cold, but it got hot at the right times against Titan Ultra. Cu’s three triples in the first half kept a cold-shooting Ginebra side in the game, while a barrage of treys from Holt, Abarrientos, and Rosario in the third quarter got the crowd darlings back.
Next Up for the PBA
The PBA Philippine Cup will enter the quarter-finals starting on Christmas Day with a double-header featuring the first-seeded San Miguel Beermen taking on the eighth-seeded NLEX Road Warriors in the first game, followed by No. 4 Converge FiberXers and No. 5 Ginebra.
San Miguel vs NLEX (5:15 p.m.)
Converge vs Ginebra (7:30 p.m.)
