Barangay Ginebra blew out NorthPort, 115-93, for a strong start in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven semifinals Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A 32-14 third quarter shelling set the tone for the lopsided result in the series opener that was tight in the first half.

The Kings exacted revenge over their elimination round tormentor and top-seeded rival in dominating fashion, showing no signs of fatigue despite having five key players coming off a grueling road campaign for Gilas Pilipinas in the third window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

“It’s only one game and it’s a long series. Fatigue creeps in about Game 3 or 4, you could go pretty good in the first couple of games,” Ginebra coach Tim Cone said.

“Like I said, we we’re able to manage the minutes tonight and that was important for us.”     

Resident import and Gilas main man Justine Brownlee finished with 19 points to lead four other Gin Kings in double-figure scoring.

Other national team members Troy Rosario, Jamie Malonzo and Japeth Aguilar contributed 16, 14 and 11 markers, respectively, for Ginebra, who shared the ball really well with 36 assists.

RJ Abarrientos had 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Gin Kings, who had a 56-point contribution from their bench.

Game 2 is on Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City. 

From a slim five-point lead at the half, Ginebra broke the game open in the second half as it built an 88-65 separation entering the final period.

Ralph Cu gave the Kings their biggest lead, 111-81, off a triple with just 3:38 left in the game.

Kadeem Jack posted 33 points and pulled down 12 rebounds while Joshua Munzon was the only other Batang Pier in double digits with 10 markers.

Arvin Tolentino had a cold shooting night with eight points on 2-of-11 field goal clip. 

The scores:

GINEBRA (115) --- Brownlee 19, Rosario 16, Abarrientos 15, Malonzo 14, J.Aguilar 11, Holt 7, Mariano 7, Thompson 6, Ahanmisi 5, R. Aguilar 3, Pessumal 2, Pinto 1, Adamos 0

NORTHPORT (93) -- Jack 33, Munzon 10, Tolentino 8, Navarro 8, Nelle 7, Onwubere 7, Taha 6, Bulanadi 4, Yu 3, Cuntapay 3, Miranda 2, Flores 2

Quarters: 31-22, 56-51, 88-65, 115-93