Barangay Ginebra San Miguel bucked another third-quarter meltdown and stormed past the San Miguel Beermen, 110-94, on Tuesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. With the win, the reigning PBA Commissioner’s Cup champs booked a ticket to the Governors’ Cup semis to make it three Final Four appearances in Season 50.
What Happened?
As in Games 1 and 2, Ginebra got off to a rip-roaring start, jumping out to a 24-11 lead in the first nine minutes of the opening frame behind Jordan Murphy, Scottie Thompson, and RJ Abarrientos. San Miguel, though, crawled right back in just before the end of the quarter, outscoring the crowd darlings, 9-2, for a 26-20 scoreline after one. The Beermen then turned it up in the second, with Jerrick Ahanmisi firing 9 points early and June Mar Fajardo pouring in 14 in a 37-23 quarter that put San Miguel ahead by eight, 57-49, entering intermission.
Ginebra inched right back into the game to start the third with an 8-2 run that made it 57-59 at the 8:37 mark. But George King waxed hot next for San Miguel, scoring 12 points on back-to-back treys and a four to Ginebra’s 4 to stake the Beermen to a 71-61 advantage with 4:23 left in the third. Another King bucket a minute later gave San Miguel its biggest lead, 76-63, as the two-time defending Philippine Cup champions looked on their way to a rout. However, a wide-open Abarrientos four-pointer from straightaway sparked a 13-4 windup to the third that moved Ginebra to within 80-76 after three.
At that point, Game 5 was shaping up to be a nip-and-tuck affair, only it didn’t unfold that way as Ginebra owned the fourth quarter. The barangay scored the first 6 points of the final frame en route to a 25-2 blitzkrieg that turned a four-point deficit into a 101-82 bubble at the 5:42 mark. San Miguel showed a bit of a fight down the stretch when it cut the lead to 103-90 on a Don Trollano four-pointer, but Troy Rosario, Murphy, and Stephen Holt put the finishing touches on Ginebra’s Game 5 triumph.
Who Stood Out?
Playoff Scottie Thompson was all over the court in Game 5, coming away with a conference-high 29 points on 11-for-15 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block. He was particularly impactful in Ginebra’s 39-6 run bridging the end of the third and the start of the fourth as he scored 14 points while making key defensive plays. Ginebra also got a huge bounce back from Murphy, who poured in a team-high 31 points on top of 11 rebounds after a 16-point effort in the Game 4 loss. Nards Pinto, meanwhile, sparked Ginebra with 9 points off the bench, all in the second half.
San Miguel, on the other hand, drew big games from King and Fajardo. The prolific King finished with 31 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists while shooting 12-for-18 overall, while Fajardo had 20 points and 16 boards.
3 Keys to the Game
- Pinto-Thompson combo. Ginebra looked dead in the water when it fell behind by 13 in the third. But Abarrientos hit that four, and then Thompson and Pinto brought the energy and the defensive tenacity that sparked Ginebra and turned the game around. The two veterans also had two steals, one after the other, first by Thompson and then by Pinto, to start the fourth quarter that both led to fastbreak layups.
- Composure. Ginebra showed it, San Miguel lost it. Rather than fizzle out after falling behind big in the third, Ginebra quickly regrouped, raised the intensity on defense, and went on a big run. The Beermen, in contrast, seemed to relax for a bit and then seemingly got rattled when the barangay piled up the points and the crowd got going.
- Free throws. With an aggressive Murphy getting to the line 16 times, Ginebra again shot more freebies than San Miguel, 30 to 8, with a 27 to 7 advantage in conversions. That’s a 20-point difference.
Next Up for the PBA: Semifinals
Friday, December 4, 2026 | Venue to Be Announced
Converge FiberXers vs. NLEX Road Warriors (5:15 p.m.)
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel vs. TNT Tropang 5G (7:30 p.m.)
