Barangay Ginebra’s never-say-die spirit was in full display coming back from 18 points down to surprise top-seeded San Miguel Beer, 73-71, in Game 1 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.  

Stephen Holt, who struggled offensively the whole night, knocked down the go-ahead triple for his first points of the game with 2:04 left in the match before icing the King’s come-from-behind victory with a split from the line.

Head coach Tim Cone praised his team for showing grit and resolve battling league’s top scoring squad, which Ginebra held down way below its average of 108 points per game.

“We did a Herculean effort tonight on defense just trying to hold them down,” he said.

“But our offense couldn’t keep pace. We just can’t fall into playing their game. I thought we played their game tonight. We need to play more disciplined. We were much better in the second half, I have to admit.”

Game 2 is on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Japeth Aguilar led the Kings with 18 points and nine rebounds while Scottie Thompson added 16 markers and eight boards. Jamie Malonzo had 14 points as the only other Ginebra player in double figures as Troy Rosario and RJ Abarrientos had offensive dry outings with seven and two, respectively.

Ginebra overhauled a 43-25 deficit in the second quarter with a better showing in the second half.

Down, 69-61, with seven minutes left in the final canto, the Kings uncorked nine straight points punctuated by a booming trey by Holt for a one-point lead.

CJ Perez answered with a basket for the Beermen’s last points of the game. Rosario sank two free throws to put Ginebra back in front, 72-71, with 1:21 left.

San Miguel came out empty-handed in two attempts in its possession. Malonzo missed two free throws that gave the Beermen one last try to take the lead but Aguilar swatted June Mar Fajardo’s reverse layup attempt before Holt got sent to the line.

“We saw that June Mar was getting treatment on the sideline so we took advantage of the time he was absent on the floor to get back in the game. When he’s on the floor, its really, really tough,” Cone said.

“The good thing is we just battled tonight.”

Perez had 21 points while Juami Tiongson and Jericho Cruz got 12 markers each. Fajardo was limited to six points in 3-of-10 shooting from the field but still grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds.

The scores:

GINEBRA (73) --- J. Aguilar 18, Thompson 16, Malonzo 14, Rosario 7, R.Aguilar 6, Holt 4, Abarrientos 2, Pinto 2, Gray 2, Adamos 2, Ahanmisi 0, David 0

SAN MIGUEL (71) --- Perez 21, Tiongson 12, Cruz 12, Trollano 9, Fajardo 6, Ross 5, Cahilig 3, Lassiter 3, Brondial 0, Tautuaa 0, Calma 0

Quarters: 19-29, 37-45, 56-60, 73-71