‘Just happy to win': Ginebra's Brownlee brushes off career-high 51 points vs San Miguel

MANILA, Philippines -- More than recording a new career-high, Justin Brownlee is ecstatic to get the first win of Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old Brownlee paced the Gin Kings over the San Miguel Beermen, 108-102.

There, he sizzled for 51 points, one point higher than his previous career-high back in 2019. He also had 13 rebounds, six steals and five assists on 18-of-29 shooting. 

After Tuesday’s victory, Brownlee said that his intention was “really just do whatever it takes to win a game.”

“Just happy to just keep winning. We won the game and that’s what really matters,” he told reporters.

The forward also tipped his hat to his teammates for finding him especially with the game going down the wire.

“My teammates did a great job, like coach said, in giving me open shots and giving me the ball in comfortable areas and they got a lot of trust in me so I just try to go out there and stay aggressive, and try to help out the team as much as I can,” he added.

With San Miguel trailing by just one, 96-97, with 4:37 remaining after an and-one play by CJ Perez, Brownlee took over down the stretch.

He answered with a jumper, but a layup by June Mar Fajardo took it back. Brownlee, however, would power one in and get the hoop and the harm to push the lead to four, 102-98.

The Beermen were able to tie it up again at 102 after back-to-back shots by June Mar Fajardo and Jordan Adams.

But consecutive Japeth Aguilar deuces off Brownlee dimes gave the Gin Kings the lead anew, 106-102, with 1:22 to go.

After missed opportunities by San Miguel, Brownlee iced the game with a layup to secure Ginebra’s first win in two games.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the key with the victory is the team finding Brownlee when they needed it most, which they were unable to do when they lost their first game of the conference against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in Candon, 73-64, on Saturday.

“They found Justin and that’s really key. I don’t think we did that in our last game when we were up in Candon, we didn’t locate Justin at crucial times and it would have really helped us,” Cone said.

Against San Miguel, Brownlee scored 35 of his points in the second half. Despite this, the team was unable to leave the Beermen completely in the backseat until Brownlee’s dagger.

Meanwhile, Brownlee also relished playing against Adams, who scored 50 points a couple of days ago against the Blackwater Bossing.

“Jordan Adams, he’s an incredible player, he’s got a great resume, he’s played in the NBA and pretty much all over the world. I give him a lot of respect, and I respect his game,” the well-loved import stressed.

“It was a fun matchup, give a lot of credit to San Miguel, they played us tough as always and just happy we shot better than the other night. [Cone] gave us a lot of confidence to go out there and be aggressive, shoot your shot, if you feel comfortable, shoot it.”