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| Japeth Aguilar powered Ginebra past San Miguel in Game 1. PBA Images |
MANILA--Troy Rosario delivered the plays that mattered for Ginebra as it completed a comeback from 18 points down to beat San Miguel, 73-71, in Game 1 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals on Wednesday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Rosario shot the go-ahead free throws with 1:21 left and grabbed the crucial offensive rebound off Jamie Malonzo's missed charities to help preserve the Gin Kings' lead, although the Beermen had some scares before that.
SMB's tough defense forced Scottie Thompson to do an errant alley-oop pass, but Juami Tiongson and CJ Perez missed crucial jumpers that could have given the lead back to them.
Japeth Aguilar, though, fouled June Mar Fajardo while going for the rebound with 9.5 seconds to go, giving the ball back to the Beermen.
Aguilar, though, made up for the foul by blocking Fajardo from behind, and Marcio Lassiter was forced to give up a foul on Jamie Malonzo while chasing the loose ball with 4.5 seconds remaining.
Although Malonzo missed his free throws, Rosario successfully ran for the ball and hit it to Perez's body before sailing out of bounds, giving the Gin Kings 2.3 seconds to ice the game.
Stephen Holt hit his first charity and intentionally missed the second, so Fajardo had no other recourse but to throw a miracle shot from way out that did not hit the target as time expired.
Aguilar finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and one block to lead Ginebra, which drew first blood in the best-of-seven series.
Thompson added 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range, eight rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Perez led SMB with 21 points, seven rebounds, and two assists in a game where Fajardo, despite grabbing 19 rebounds, was held to only six points on 3-of-10 shooting and the team blew a 43-25 lead midway through the second quarter.
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