By JONAS TERRADO
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel moved on the doorstep of another finals appearance after beating Meralco, 91-84, Sunday night in Game 3 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.
Stanley Pringle redeemed himself from his struggles the last time with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists as the Kings gained a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five affair with a strong half before keeping a strong stand amid multiple attempts by the Bolts to complete a comeback.
Meantime, Matthew Wright put on a heroic performance despite an injured ankle and led Phoenix Super LPG to a 92-89 win over TNT.
The win enabled Phoenix to edge to a first-ever finals appearance as Wright scored 25 points including a pair of big shots in the latter part of the fourth quarter, showing no signs of a right ankle sprain that forced him to play a total of 22 minutes in the previous two games of the series.
Pringle was big for Ginebra after being held to 9 points on 4-of-16 shooting in Game 2 that saw Ginebra blow a 13-point third quarter before losing 95-77.
He scored 12 points in the first half as Ginebra built a 37-15 lead in the second quarter, a cushion that proved to be beneficial.
Meralco did try to orchestrate a rally the rest of the way but Ginebra was too consistent on both ends thanks to Prince Caperal, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Joe Devance and Scottie Thompson.
Pringle then resumed his customary role as Ginebra’s closer, scoring nine in the payoff period to keep the Kings afloat and deny the Bolts one final opportunity to make things interesting.
“He was dead tired down that stretch, but he knows he’s our finisher,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “Like I said, we’ll run our offense all the way through until the three or four minutes then it’s going to be Stanley, Stanley, Stanley, Stanley just like it was like with Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin.”
Cone was referring to Justin Brownlee, who has accounted for all of Ginebra’s four championships since 2016. Another win and it will give the Kings a crack at their first All-Filipino under the PBA’s winningest mentor.
Caperal had 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting with six rebounds, Aguilar turned in 12 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks and Tenorio put up 12 points and four assists.
Devance was hailed by Cone as Ginebra’s most important player after posting 10 points and five rebounds while Thompson had nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals for Ginebra.
Allein Maliksi fired 23 points spiked by six triples to continue his impressive shooting in the series, but Chris Newsome was held to 2-of-10 from the field despite finishing with 12 points.
Wright capped off his 33-minute exposure with a three-pointer that put Phoenix up 88-81 with over two minutes left and a fadeaway jumper off RR Pogoy with 22.6 seconds to that made it 92-89 in favor of the Fuel Masters.
TNT tried to send the game into overtime but Pogoy missed a corner three and Castro muffed a running trey, giving Phoenix the victory and a game to remember for Wright.
“There’s really no secret,” said Wright, who made 10-of-19 shots highlighted by five triples. “I just really had to man up and play through the pain, play through the limited mobility.”
By picking up back-to-back victories and control of the best-of-five series, the Fuel Masters will have two chances to close it out beginning on Wednesday inside the Smart Clark Giga City bubble.
Phoenix has never made the finals since starting its PBA stint in the 2016 Commissioner’s Cup by purchasing the Barako Bull franchise.
The scores:
First Game
PHOENIX 92 — Wright 25, Abueva 24, Jazul 11, Perkins 11, Chua 8, Intal 5, Napoles 3, Rios 3, Mallari 2, Garcia 0, Marcelo 0, Heruela 0, Gamboa 0.
TNT 89 — Parks 19, Enciso 16, Rosario 14 , Castro 12, Pogoy 8, Reyes 5, Erram 6, Montalbo 6, Washington 3, Carey 0
Quarters: 22-24, 49-47, 73-69, 92-89.
Second Game
GINEBRA 91 — Pringle 24, Caperal 15, Tenorio 12, Aguilar 12, Devance 10, Thompson 9, Mariano 5, Tolentino 4.
MERALCO 84 — Maliksi 23, Almazan 16, Hodge 13, Newsome 12, Amer 9, Quinto 6, Black 3, Hugnatan 2, Faundo 0, Jamito 0, Pinto 0.
Quarters: 27-12, 45-34, 64-52, 91-84.
