Thriller in Davao: Phoenix Rises Over Barangay Ginebra, Import Brownlee's Subpar Performance

Photo from PBA Media Burea

The crowd in Davao was expecting a great show when the most popular basketball team in the land visited the home of our President, Davao. And boy did they get it!

In their first ever game in the PBA, Ginebra was given a rude welcome by the relentless Phoenix Fuel Masters as they spoiled the opening game of the All-Filipino first runner-up.

Ginebra walked on the basketball court of the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym full of confidence having most of the crowd supporting and cheering for them to win the game. The Fuel Masters, however had a different plan as they never let up the gas pedal and was always in close contention with Ginebra all throughout the game.

Phoenix was fueled and was riding on the performance of Matthew Wright who had the game high of 27 points on a 45% field goal percentage followed by import McKay who contributed 15 points including a critical point in the dying minutes of the game that gave the Phoenix the lead.

On the other hand, import Justin Brownlee fell short of his performance and was almost none existent with only 12 points on 3 out of 10 shooting.

But the performance of Justin was not entirely the reason why they lost.

Under a minute left of the game, Joe Devance and LA Tenorio guarded by the relentless defense of the Fuel Masters turn over the ball not just once but twice and it ultimately spelled doom for the Barangay Ginebra team.

The scores:

PHOENIX 94 - Wright 27, McKay 15, Baguio 13, Jazul 9, Torres 7, Kramer 6, Borboran 5, Alolino 4, Intal 4, Eriobu 2, Miranda 0, J. Wilson 0, Viernes 0.

GINEBRA 91 - Aguilar 15, Devance 15, Tenorio 13, Brownlee 12, Cruz 10, Ellis 9, Caguioa 8, Thompson 5, Marcelo 2, Taha 1, Ferrer 1, Mariano 0.

Quarters: 26-24, 49-46, 70-71, 94-91