By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Justin Chua’s second half game brilliance was not enough as the Blackwater Bossing suffered a 112-98 defeat to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in the 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila on Tuesday night, September 10.
The Bacolod City-native big man finished with 12 points, with eight coming in the second half, to go with four rebounds and one steal as the Bossing saw their three-game winning run snapped to drop to a 3-4 record.
After being down by as much as 17 points in the second quarter, the Bossing leaned on inside conversions from Chua as they cut the deficit to 67-70 midway through the third quarter.
The Gin Kings responded with consecutive points from Earl Scottie Thompson to widen the lead to 91-83 before breaking the game wide open in the fourth quarter on conversions from George Isaac Go, Justin Brownlee and Rhon Jhay Abarrientos.
Thompson tallied a triple-double of 21 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, Brownlee and Abarrientos added 20 and 15 points, respectively, while Stephen Holt and Japeth Aguilar ended with 14 apiece for the Gin Kings, which improved to a 4-2 win-loss slate.
“I think we just need kind of an attitude change. We just need to come out with a higher level of intensity because they are proving to be a really strong team,” Gin Kings head coach Tim Cone said.
“I think my guys did a great job, they did raise their intensity. We had a few moments when we were not playing well, we lost our focus, but we just managed to get back our intensity,” he added.
George King finished with 21 points, with 19 coming in the first half, Jeth Troy Rosario added 18 markers, while Sedrick Barefield and Christian David ended with 15 and 13, respectively, for the Bossing./ASC, WDJ
GINEBRA 112 — Thompson 21, Brownlee 20, Abarrientos 15, Holt 14, J. Aguilar 14, Ahanmisi 8, Go 7, Tenorio 6, Mariano 4, Pinto 3, R. Aguilar 0.
BLACKWATER 98 — King 21, Rosario 18, Barefield 15, David 13, Chua 12, Ilagan 6, Escoto 5, Kwekuteye 3, Mitchell 3, Suerte 2, Corteza 0, Montalbo 0, Ponferrada 0.
Quarterscores: 36-22, 67-58, 91-82, 112-98.