MUZZLED from going to his potent inside game, Ginebra big man Christian Standhardinger found a lethal way to defuse the Meralco Bolts in pivotal Game 5 of their PBA Philippine Cup semis battle at the packed Mall of Asia Arena last night.
After anchoring a third-quarter comeback, Standhardinger picked his rivals apart with precise perimeter shooting in the fourth on the way to a game-high 34 points, lifting Ginebra to a pulsating 89-84 triumph for a 3-2 lead, much to the delight of the predominantly Kings gallery.
After leading by as many as 15 points in the second half, Meralco suffered a power outage and now trail the semis series where the winner of Game 5 has won 70 percent most of the time.
After sputtering in the stretch, the charges of coach Luigi Trillo hope to bounce back and tie the series on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and a force a winner-take-all Game.
With the Bolts threatening to pull away in the third quarter, the never-say-die Gin Kings leaned on Standardiner, Maverick Ahanmisi and LA Tenorio in a 23-10 explosion to close in at 67-69 entering the payoff period.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone was relieved after his wards went through the wringer, saying: “It didn’t look three games ago when we were down 1-2, but, yeah, things are looking after this grind-out game, all thanks to Christian.”
“Since I wasn’t able to go inside, I just took what the defense (offered) and converted short jumpers,” said Standhardinger, who also had nine rebounds and five assists.
Ginebra gained the slight upperhand in the second quarter 25-20 until the Bolts struck like lightning through the hot hands of Chris Banchero.
Banchero capped a 9-0 run with a triple to push Meralco on top 29-25 before he sank his fourth triple in pushing the Bolts to their biggest lead at 44-34, time down to 1:20 in the period, before Ginebra closed out with six unanswered point to trail 40-44 at the break.
Compounding Ginebra’s woes were their 10 turnovers, which their rivals translated to eight points.
Riding Scottie Thompson’s rekindled shooting touch, the Gin Kings evened their semis clash at two wins apiece with a methodical 90-71 victory over the Bolts in Game 4 last week.
Thompson broke out of a slump in converting six of his seven tries from the field for 15 clutch points.
Waiting in the wings are the San Miguel Beermen, who eliminated the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters 107-100 last week at the Mall of Asia to complete a four-game sweep of their own series.
