BOCAUE, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel clamped down on defense down the stretch to pull off an 85-74 win over the Meralco Bolts in Game 5 and go up 3-2 in the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-7 finals series at the Philippine Arena Sunday, October 22.

With Meralco in striking distance with 6 minutes left in the game, 70-74, the Gin Kings tightened it up on the defensive end and rode on a game-clinching 11-4 run powered by Greg Slaughter’s 5 points.

After Chris Newsome buried a jumper at the 6:30 mark in the fourth quarter, the Bolts failed to score a field goal until Anjo Caram sank his jump shot with 1:03 left in the game. 

“Meralco has done a really good job of grinding out wins against us and that’s really what we’ve always tried to be about, the grind out defensive type team and so we talked about getting back to our identity and really going after people defensively and I thought we did,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone.

Proof of Ginebra’s stifling defense is Meralco having more turnovers (20), which the Gin Kings converted to 23 points, than assists (19). 

Four Ginebra players finished in double figures with Justin Brownlee leading the way with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

Slaughter poured in 17 points, 16 rebounds and 6 blocks while LA Tenorio, who was scoreless in Ginebra’ Game 4 loss, had a bounce back game of 17 markers, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Ginebra is now 3-0 when playing at the Philippine Arena while Meralco loses its first game at the venue. 

Allen Durham paced the Bolts with 27 points, 19 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks while Garvo Lanete was the only other Meralco player to score in double digits with 11. 

Game 6 of the finals will be on Wednesday, October 25, at the same venue. 

Scores:  

Ginebra (85): Brownlee 20, Slaughter 17, Tenorio 17, Devance 12, Aguilar 8, Thompson 5, Caguioa 4, Ferrer 2, 

Meralco (74): Durham 27, Lanete 11, Hugnatan 8, Caram 7, Dillinger 6, Hodge 6, Newsome 5, Amer 4, Faundo 0, Sedurifa 0, Tolomia 0 

Quarter scores: 21-15, 42-35, 66-62, 85-74. – Rappler.com