Barangay Ginebra defeated Meralco 94-87 on Sunday at the crowded Ynares Center, advancing to the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup semifinals thanks to clutch shots from Justin Brownlee and RJ Abarrientos.

In a fierce Game 3 that saw Meralco active consultant Nenad Vucinic dismissed with 5:41 remaining after a tirade against a referee, Brownlee and Abarrientos led the Gin Kings’ charge in the closing minutes to defeat the Bolts.

In order to finish the best-of-three series 2-1 and set up a best-of-seven semifinal series against No. 1 seed NorthPort, the Gin Kings grabbed control of the remainder of the game and defeated the Bolts for the sixth time in seven meetings this season.

With 2:58 remaining in the game, Brownlee scored 25 points, including a three-pointer on Chris Newsome’s sixth and final foul, which put Ginebra ahead 86-76.

Abarrientos, who finished the game with 16 points, had also made a three-pointer that served as a backbreaker for Meralco before that basket from Brownlee.

After the FIBA break, the Smart-Araneta Coliseum will host Game One of the two semifinal series on February 26. At 5 p.m., TNT takes on Rain or Shine. At 7:30 p.m., Barangay Ginebra will play NorthPort.

After a poor start that saw them go behind 32-19 halfway through the second quarter, the Gin Kings rallied to trim the lead to one at the half (38-37), thanks to ten points from Brownlee.

Tim Cone, coach of Ginebra, stated. “It was a little scary there in the beginning and they really handled us well,”. “I thought we were a little tight to start the basketball game. We missed easy shots that we would normally make and that allowed them to stretch their lead.”.

“But I felt we still played well. We were playing hard. We were playing well on defense. We weren’t making some of the shots that we should have made. I’m glad we turned it around. We just needed a spark.

“Playoff Justin showed up. When we got back to one point at halftime, I think we were confident that we could win this game,” said the veteran Coach.

Bong Quinto had 16 points and Newsome had 22 before fouling out. In the defeat, Cliff Hodge scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Despite playing with a bad back, Akil Mitchell finished with eight points and twelve rebounds but only made two of eleven field goals.

The Scores

Barangay Ginebra 94 – Brownlee 25, Holt 17, Abarrientos 16, Rosario 12, Thompson 7, Ahanmisi 6, J. Aguilar 6, Cu 5, Malonzo 0.

Meralco 87 – Newsome 22, Quinto 16, Hodge 13, Banchero 12, Black 9, Mitchell 8, Rios 5, Almazan 2, Bates 0.

Quarter scores: 19-22; 37-38; 64-58; 94-87.