Barangay Ginebra San Miguel superstar Justin Brownlee against the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA Season 49 Semifinals Game 1. Photo from PBA Images.

MANILA (UPDATED) — Barangay Ginebra San Miguel opened the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup semifinals in a victorious manner.

The Gin Kings caught fire to dominate the San Miguel Beermen, 122-105, in Game 1 on Wednesday evening at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Justin Brownlee was admirable as usual for the Tim Cone-coached squad, putting up 33 points — 20 of which came in the pivotal third period, and the same amount from four-point country — together with eight rebounds, five assists, a steal, and zero turnovers.

Also stellar was Stephen Holt who had a 30-point, eight-rebound game with four assists, while Scottie Thompson delivered 10 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, and a steal.

Only up 63-58 at halftime, the Kings pulled away in the third period all thanks to Brownlee draining three of his four attempts from beyond the arc and two of his three tries from beyond the arc.

This, according to Ginebra head coach Brownlee, was a matter of him staying hungry, especially with the capabilities of the Beermen to erase double-digit deficits. 

"I just wanted to come up and be aggressive," said the Gilas Pilipinas star in the game wherein they eventually led by as much as 24 points, 102-78.

"I felt like I was in a good rhythm, so I just wanted to try to be aggressive and to take shots. San Miguel, they always come and we're all ready to play and we always have a good game plan, but for some reason, I found myself open a few times from deep," he added.

However, despite the Kings — more specifically, Brownlee — shooting 5-of-6 from beyond the arcs, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone maintained that the four-point shot is just one of the many good things that his team did against San Miguel.

"Just because it favors our team, having Justin around, doesn't mean I'm a fan of the four-point line," he said. I just believe that the game has evolved into shooting. Taking quick shots, taking four points."

"We're just evolving into that idea that we're just going to be a three- or four-point shooting game. But there's so much more to the game. There's cutting, there's screening, there's the defensive side, the ability to pass."

Meanwhile, as hot as Ginebra was in the game, the same cannot be said for San Miguel, especially in the third period where they were outscored, 34-20.

San Miguel only shot 31.6 % from the field, with them even going 6-of-19 from the field, and this eventually resulted in the Jorge Gallent-coached team falling to 0-1 in the series

EJ Onasike led SMB in scoring with 27 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, June Mar Fajardo had a 16-point, 16-rebound game, while Marcio Lassiter contributed 18 — 15 from the three-point area. 

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be on Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m., at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The Scores :

GINEBRA 122 – Brownlee 33, Holt 30, Abarrientos 13, Thompson 10, Ahanmisi 9, J.Aguilar 9, Pinto 9, Devance 8, Adamos 1, Cu 0

SAN MIGUEL 105 – Anosike 27, Lassiter 18, Fajardo 16, Perez 13, Ross 7, Rosales 6, Romeo 6, Enciso 6, Cruz 4, Tautuaa 2, Nava 0, Brondial 0

QUARTERS: 27-28, 63-58, 97-78, 122-105

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