Despite collecting another Best Player of the Conference award, June Mar Fajardo bemoaned San Miguel’s failure to advance to the PBA Governors’ Cup finals.

The 34-year-old big man claimed that if the Beermen had made it to the championship round of the import-heavy conference, winning a record-extending 11th BPC honor would have been more fulfilling.

Unfortunately, the Beermen lost their semifinal clash in six games against the Barangay Ginebra Kings, who stood in their way.
Fajardo denied Japeth Aguilar the first-ever BPC award with a total score of 989 points. Aguilar finished second behind his close friend with a total score of 664.

Fajardo said that Aguilar is equally worthy of receiving the prized individual award as the Ginebra star, particularly after leading the Kings’ frontcourt after Christian Standhardinger left.

Fajardo claimed he never grows weary of receiving the distinction, even though he has won the most BPC trophies in the 49-year history of Asia’s oldest professional basketball league.

On the other hand, with 34 points, Justin Brownlee finally showed off his offensive prowess as Barangay Ginebra defeated TNT 106-92 on Sunday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum to tie the PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup Finals.

On a night when he lost the Best Import award to TNT opponent Rondae Hollis-Jefferson once more, Brownlee exploded for the most points he has scored in this best-of-seven finals in front of 16,783 spectators at the Big Dome.

More significantly, after losing 0–2 to begin their finals matchup, the Gin Kings are back in the running for the title, forcing the series into a best-of-three.

With 18 points apiece from Stephen Holt, Maverick Ahanmisi, and Japeth Aguilar—including backbreaking shots in the final game that dampened the resurgent Tropang Giga’s spirits—Brownlee also received a lot of assistance.

Additionally, Holt scored the most points (18) in his maiden PBA Finals appearance after joining Ginebra via a trade with Terrafirma.

Tim Cone, the coach of Barangay Ginebra, claimed that his team was able to create offensive possibilities because of the small things.

Coach Tim Cone said, “This is the finals, it’s going to be a tough go offensively always in the finals. Everybody wants to win so badly that it’s never just about making shots. It’s always about how much guys are going to defend and rebound and hustle. And that’s what we’ve been able to do this last two games,”. 

“In terms of our offense, we just kept making big shots when we needed to. We’ve been doing that pretty much all conference long. It seems like when the team started to make a run at us, somebody hits a big shot. Stephen was the one making those big shots, Maverick hit that big four, Justin had one. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been hitting the big shots when it counts,” Cone added.

Barangay Ginebra had the biggest lead of the game prior to the final score, 85-73, thanks to a 3-for-4 three-pointer and a 2-for-4 four-pointer by Brownlee, who shot 11-for-16 from the field.

Holt added a three off a flurry for the ball after Ahanmisi drained a four, giving the Gin Kings a 104-92 lead that eventually sealed the win.
After sitting on the bench for the first time to close a minor cut in the second quarter, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in 46 minutes and 57 seconds.

TNT lost even though Calvin Oftana had his greatest performance of the finals, scoring 26 points.

The Scores

Barangay Ginebra 106 – Brownlee 34, Ahanmisi 18, J. Aguilar 18, Holt 18, Thompson 12, Abarrientos 5, Devance 1, Tenorio 0, Cu 0, Pinto 0, R. Aguilar 0, Mariano 0.

TNT 92 – Hollis-Jefferson 28, Oftana 26, Nambatac 15, Castro 9, Pogoy 9, Erram 3, Aurin 2, Williams 0, Khobuntin 0, Heruela 0.

Quarter scores: 30-25; 54-42; 85-77; 106-92.