Ginebra rains down on Rain or Shine late to clinch playoff bonus

Barangay Ginebra wasted an early lead, but recovered in the perfect time to hack out a 98-80 win over Rain or Shine and seal a twice-to-beat bonus in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup on Sunday at the Ynares Center Antipolo.

The Gin Kings squandered an 18-point advantage in the second period but mounted a huge fourth quarter en route to the victory that allowed them to seal the fourth spot with an 8-3 card. They take on Converge next round armed with the playoff incentive. 

Stephen Holt did the heavy lifting in the second half to finish with 27 points together with 12 rebounds, and four assists while Japeth Aguilar and Jamie Malonzo chipped in 18 and 15 markers apiece. 

"This is Stephen all the time. This is Stephen at practice. If you guys come to our practice and watch Stephen, this is Stephen all the time. The effort he brings on both sides is really phenomenal," Ginebra coach Tim Cone said of his guard. 

"He really leads by example and tonight he really had a good shooting night."

Already enjoying a 40-22 lead in the second period, the Gin Kings lost steam with Rain or Shine staging a resistance in the form of a 21-5 closing run led by Anton Asistio, who buried a four-point shot and back-to-back triples in that stretch to cut the gap to two, 43-45. 

Rain or shine even tied it up at 59-all in the third before Ginebra responded with a 15-8 rampage that saw the Gin Kings slowly rebuilding a lead at 74-67. 

They then opened the fourth with a 15-0 blitz fueled by two three-pointers from Holt as Ginebra completely changed the tempo of the game with an 89-67 lead before Jayson David's own trey made it a 92-69 cushion for Ginebra with still 7:12 left. 

"My mentality starts in practice. It's the final game of the elimination so we just wanted to finish on the right foot and continue the momentum we have," Holt said. 

"This is our third try to win the championship so we understand the task at hand and every detail matters to us."

With Ginebra's win, the top eight has been completed with San Miguel (8-3) taking the top seed and will take on eighth-seeded Meralco (6-5)  in the quarterfinals while NLEX (8-3) will face (6-5) Rain or Shine. 

Third seed Magnolia (8-3) will slug it out against grand slam seeking TNT (6-5) while Ginebra faces the FiberXers (7-4). 

The quarterfinals start on Wednesday NLEX and Magnolia eyeing an outright semis spots at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively, while San Miguel and Ginebra are out to do the same on Friday. 

Scores:

Barangay Ginebra 98 – Holt 27, J.Aguilar 18, Malonzo 15, Abarrientos 11, Thompson 8, Rosario 8, David 8, Adamos 2, Pessumal 1, Pinto 0, Cu 0, Ahanmisi 0, Gray 0, Mariano 0.

Rain or Shine 80– Nocum 13, Santillan 13, Asistio 11, Malonzo 10, Mamuyac 9, Caracut 7, Clarito 6, Ildefonso 5, Datu 2, Norwood 2, Borboran 2, Escandor 0.

Quarters: 32-21, 45-43, 74-67, 98-80.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News