BY JONAS TERRADO
Tim Cone offered congratulatory words to high-leaping Japeth Aguilar after Barangay Ginebra San Miguel sneaked out a 91-87 victory over Meralco in Game 1 of a PBA Governors’ Cup title series that may not be pleasing for the eyes early but had plenty of drama in the end.
“Hell of a block,” Cone told Aguilar, who arrived in the middle of the postgame interview inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum press room. “Wow, game-saving. Awesome.”
Aguilar had just saved Ginebra from being forced to overtime, blocking Allen Durham’s layup try in the final seconds. The defensive play capped off the needed contributions from the locals, who for the first three quarters struggled to piggyback Justin Brownlee’s offensive outburst.
“It’s just one win,” Aguilar told his coach.
“Yeah, just one win,” Cone responded. “But that was a big one. Big block for us.”
Ginebra was forced to play Meralco’s slow tempo right from the onset, resulting in a 10-point deficit in the third and disappointing faces from most of the 10,708 fans at the Big Dome.
Brownlee kept Ginebra as close as he could with his mid-range and three-point shots, giving him 34 points through three quarters and none of his teammates in double figures.
“Kaya naman nandito sa amin si Justin kasi yun yung dapat na ginagawa niya for us,” said LA Tenorio. “But again, we cannot rely for the whole series on Justin doing that every game. We have to figure it out.”
Tenorio and Aguilar may have figured it out late in the third when they helped trim Ginebra’s deficit from 61-51 to 71-68 entering the fourth.
Flashing the form that enabled him to win three Finals Most Valuable Player awards, Tenorio scored six in the final 12 minutes, converted through layups to a difficult degree. Aguilar made half of his 16 points in the same period before coming through with the block on Durham.
“I think that’s just what’s expected out of them,” said Brownlee, who wound up with 38 points after scoring all of his four in the fourth through the foul line. “I think if those guys continue to be aggressive and read the defense and take the opportunity, I think they’re gonna be great all series long.
“Both of those players got a great skill set. Japeth is very athletic. LA can drive and shoot and set the team up, you know, that what’s expected of them to play well,” added Brownlee.
What’s expected from Tenorio, Aguilar and the rest of the crew is to be more productive come Game 2 when the series shifts to the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City for a chance at a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“Sana masustain namin yung defensive energy. Kung di lang masustain, sana mahigitan pa namin,” said Aguilar. “It’s a long series at yun ang mentality namin. We’re glad nakuha namin yung game na to. So for us, it’s just three more games.”
