MANILA, Philippines — Justin Brownlee dropped a new PBA career-high 54 points, while RJ Abarrientos and Troy Rosario took charge in overtime to lift Barangay Ginebra to a pulsating 100-95 win over TNT on Friday night to move within a win away from ruling the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup title at the Araneta Coliseum.
The 38-year-old Brownlee plucked the Gin Kings from the jaws of defeat after scoring 17 points in the fourth period, which allowed Tim Cone’s charges to charge back from an 87-80 deficit.
His basket with 1:21 to go gave Ginebra an 89-87 lead, before Roger Pogoy responded with a jumper later to tie the game.
Both teams failed to score the rest of the way in the regulation play, with Rosario failing to score on an alley oop attempt with six-tenths of a second to go, sending the game to an extra five minutes.
Brownlee scored Ginebra’s first five points in the extension period, before Rosario and Abarrientos took over from there, allowing the team to grab a 3-2 lead, and put the Gin Kings at the cusp of their first PBA title in three years Ginebra registered the hard-earned win right in front of 18,039 fans, mostly cheering for the Gin Kings.
Game 6 is set on Sunday, also at the Big Dome, with Ginebra looking to finish off TNT and its back-to-back Commissioner’s Cup title bid.
Abarrientos finished with 13 points, Japeth Aguilar 12, while Rosario 10 and seven boards for Ginebra.
McCullough led TNT with 38 points, while Roger Pogoy 23.
