Ginebra forges finals rematch vs TNT

Barangay Ginebra punched a return ticket to the finals after running over NorthPort, 126-99, in a Game 5 rout to close the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup semifinals Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Kings hammered the top-seeded Batang Pier with 35 points in a third quarter onslaught, setting the tone for the lopsided championship seat-clinching victory to close the best-of-seven series, 4-1.

Ginebra, which bounced back mightily from a Game 4 meltdown, has set up a collision course with Governors’ Cup title showdown tormentor TNT.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals is on 14 March at the Mall of Asia Arena.

"Nothing is ever easy in the PBA. It takes a lot of effort. People see a 20-point lead and think it's easy. But it's really hard to get a 20-point lead, it's really hard to blowout teams in this league," Kings head coach Tim Cone said.

"They come every once in a while. We just got into a good rhythm against them."

Justin Brownlee led five other Kings in double figures with 21 points he laced with 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Rookie RJ Abarrientos had a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists and Jamie Malonzo added 20 markers on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

A 27-5 blast to start the third period was all that the Kings needed to tighten the noose on NorthPort’s neck.

Ginebra built a 31-point separation, 89-58, after Jamie Malonzo connected a triple with 5:52 left in the third canto.

It was all over but the shouting from there.

Japeth Aguilar soared for a couple of dunks to entertain the crowd as he chipped in 18 points for Ginebra. Scottie Thompson finished with 14 points, eight boards and five assists while Troy Rosario had 11 markers before calling it a day in the third period after twisting his ankle.

NorthPort suffered its fourth blowout loss in the series after losing by an average of 20.6 points in the first three games.

Kadeem Jack paced the Batang Pier with 31 points on 12-of-24 field goal shooting while Allyn Bulanadi added 12 markers. Joshua Munoz scored 12 while Paolo Taha had 10.

Best Player of the Conference frontrunner Arvin Toletino was limited to just nine points after  a near triple-double in Game 4.

The scores:      

GINEBRA (126) --- Brownlee 21, Abarrientos 20, Malonzo 20, J.Aguilar 18, Thompson 14, Rosario 11, Ahanmisi 9, Holt 7, Mariano 2, Pinto 2, Adamos 2, Cu 0, Pessumal 0, R. Aguilar 0

NORTHPORT (99) --- Jack 31, Bulanadi 26, Munzon 12, Taha 10, Tolentino 9, Navarro 9, Onwubere 2, Nelle 0, Flores 0, Cuntapay 0

Quarters: 23-22, 62-53, 97-76, 126-99