[caption id="attachment_90470" align="alignleft" width="202"] Meralco's Kelly Nabong (R) commits a fragrant foul on a dunking Justin Brownlee of the Barangay Ginebra Kings in Game 2 of the PBA Governors' Cup finals at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.[/caption]By Jay R. Gotera MANILA — Sol Mercado's go-ahead basket and key defensive stop in the endgame lifted the Barangay Ginebra Kings to a close 82-79 victory over the Meralco Bolts in Game 2 of the PBA Governors' Cup best-of-seven finals Sunday night. The win leveled the series at 1-1 with Game 3 set for Wednesday, Oct. 12. Mercado scored on a putback that put the Kings up for good, 81-79. He then forced Meralco import Allen Durham to take a tough shot that missed on the other end as Ginebra bounced back from its Game 1 loss. Hounded by Mercado, Durham also committed a turnover and missed a three-pointer that could have sent the game into overtime amid the roar of over 18,000 fans, mostly pro-Ginebra, which watched the game at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Mercado finished with 12 points, six rebounds and a team-high four assists. Redeeming himself after a mediocre Game 1 performance, import Justin Brownlee paced Ginebra with 32 points and 12 rebounds Sunday. Mark Caguioa added 10 points while LA Tenorio and rookie Scottie Thompson chipped in nine apiece. After a closely-fought first half, Ginebra went on a scorching 20-4 run as the Kings erected their biggest lead, 63-48. Meralco then made a 10-2 run anchored on a 5-0 blast from Cliff Hodge. With the Kings still up, 69-60, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bolts unleashed a 13-2 run that allowed them to regain the lead, 76-75. The game was tied at 79-79 heading into the last two minutes. After both teams made key stops, Mercado finally broke free as he grabbed a Tenorio miss and put it back on the ring to give Ginebra an 81-79 lead. After Tenorio split his charities to give the Kings a three-point lead, the Bolts still had enough time to send the game into overtime. However, they missed two hurried three-point attempts in the dying seconds as Ginebra preserved the win. Durham led the Bolts with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Before the game, the Meralco import nicknamed "The Hulk" captured the Best Import award after leading his team to its first-ever finals appearance. Durham beat Ginebra's Brownlee for the award as he posted averages of 29.4 points, 15.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks. TNT KaTropa star Jayson Castro won his fourth Best Player of the Conference award after topping the statistical race with 38.3 points. He narrowly beat San Miguel's June Mar Fajardo who finished with 37.8 points. Castro led TNT to a 10-1 record in the elimination round to emerge as the No.1 seed. However, TNT's finals aspiration came to a sudden stop as the KaTropa lost to Meralco in their best-of
