By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Christian Standhardinger drilled a go-ahead basket as Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings entered the 2022-2023 PBA Governors’ Cup finals with an 87-85 win over San Miguel Beermen in Game 3 of the semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum yesterday.

With the score tied at 85-all, Gin Kings’ Justin Brownlee attracted three Beermen defenders before dropping the ball to Standhardinger for an easy layup with four seconds left.

The Beermen still had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Marcio Lassiter misfired his basket attempt just inside the three-point line despite being left wide open by the Gin Kings defense.

Standhardinger finished the game with 14 points to go with 17 rebounds and seven assists as the defending champion Gin Kings finished the best-of-five semifinals series at 3-0.

Bronwlee tallied double-double 22 points and 14 rebounds, Earl Scottie Thompson also had a double-double 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Jeremiah Gray and Jamie Malonzo had 13 and 12 markers, respectively, for Ginebra.

After taking a 17-16 lead after the first quarter, the Gin Kings struggled heavily with their shots in the second quarter, while the Beermen pulled away to 50-38 at the half behind triples by Ilonggo Jericho Cruz and Simon Enciso.

The Beermen went on to build their largest lead at 62-44 after a three-pointer by Lassiter, but the Gin Kings trimmed the deficit to 70-58 on consecutive baskets from Gray and Malonzo.

The Beermen were still ahead 76-63 early in the fourth quarter before the Gin Kings went on a massive run to take an 85-82 lead on a triple by Gray and a jumper by Brownlee, but the Beermen tied the match for the last time at 85-all on a Lassiter trey.

Cameron Clark led the Beermen with double-double 16 points and 13 rebounds, Jaymar Perez added 14 markers, while Lassiter, Cruz and Enciso had 13, 12 and 11 markers, respectively.

Barangay Ginebra will wait for the winner of the TNT Tropang Giga-Meralco Bolts semifinal game in the best-of-seven championship series that will begin on Easter Sunday, April 9.

GINEBRA 87 — Brownlee 22, Thompson 17, Standhardinger 14, Gray 13, Malonzo 12, Pinto 4, Pessumal 3, Mariano 2, Pringle 0.

SAN MIGUEL 85 — Clark 16, Perez 14, Lassiter 13, Cruz 12, Enciso 11, Herndon 6, Tautuaa 6, Ross 5, Manuel 2.

Quarterscores: 17-16, 38-50, 58-70, 87-85./ASC, WDJ