PBA Media Bureau Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone is glad that his team responded well to the “playoff atmosphere” in Manila Clasico which they prevailed against rival Star Hotshots on Sunday. “I think it sent a good message to players again that we can do this. Coming in, everybody was kinda doubting. Can we do this? Tonight, maybe some of the doubters will jump on the bandwagon,” Cone told sportswriters during the post-game interview. In the latest edition of their rivalry game, Ginebra leaned on a huge second half to come back from a 12-point deficit and pull off a 113-98 rout. “You’ve got to get up in this game. You really do. I mean the fans come out, there’s a lot of talk about it. We walked to the streets and people are talking about it. It’s never Ginebra-Purefoods. It’s always, ‘Oh, you’re playing the Manila Clasico.’ “It’s always the Clasico, Clasico. So it’s a different feel. It’s a playoff atmosphere when you can show up to this game against Purefoods. “We expected this to be a big game. They came into this game with great momentum, winning four in a row. When a team is playing at that high level, it’s really hard to break it. We’re fortunate to do that tonight.” Team captain LA Tenorio said the game also served as the team’s acid test in matching up the undersized Justin Brownlee against the other teams’ bigger imports. “That’s our goal,” said Tenorio. “To really come out aggressive and strong. Siguro wake-up call rin sa amin yung game against Phoenix na we really have to find ways to win. Ito yung barometer namin kung talagang kaya naming mag-compete with bigger imports ng ibang teams. “We took the challenge and it’s good the whole team responded to the challenge. It’s a good momentum for us going to the long break.” Brownlee, the smallest reinforcement in the tournament, passed the test: he outplayed Star’s taller import Tony Mitchell, finishing with 30 points, 15 rebounds and six assists to top the 22 points and nine boards of his counterpart. http://j.mp/2oiUslT