The Magnolia Hotshots had to endure the challenge imposed by the upset-hungry GlobalPort Batang Pier to come out victorious in their quarterfinals meeting, 86-79, Tuesday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Magnolia have now become the second team — next to San Miguel Beermen — to book a flight to the 2018 Philippine Cup semifinals, and will now wait for the winner of the NLEX-Alaska series as their opponents in the next round.
“It was a very tough game for us,” said head coach Chito Victolero. “We expect ‘yung aggressiveness and energy ng Global, but ‘yung ganoon sa start, sobrang aggressiveness nila and grabe ang atake nila in the first quarter. Na-outplay nila kami in the first half.”
Mark Barroca spearheaded the Hotshots’ well-deployed attack with 17 points and three assists. Paul Lee finished with a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Marc Pingris produced 13 markers and nine caroms.
The Hotshots seemingly got surprised with the way the Batang Pier started the bout, as GlobalPort had a fiery 26-6 lead. But Magnolia gradually gained their groove afterwards and was able to wipe out the huge deficit.
And it was in the third quarter that the Hotshots finally had their best form. They melted a 38-49 deficit to taste their first-ever lead, 54-53, through a 16-4 rally punctuated by Barroca’s booming three-pointer with 3:20 on the clock.
From there, Magnolia took over the driver’s seat the rest of the way. They opened the final canto with a 17-7 run –ended by another three this time courtesy of Justin Melton — to post a 78-66 lead with 4:55 to go.
The Batang Pier put up another fight after that, responding with a Terrence Romeo-anchored 12-4 spree — concluded by Julian Sargent’s lay-up off a Romeo feed — to close within four, 78-82, with just 1:05 remaining.
GlobalPort looked to trim the lead further, but Romeo had a turnover with 35 seconds after failing to complete his crossover. Magnolia got the ball, and freebies from Lee and Pingris inside the last 20 ticks sealed the win.
“Good thing we have a second half to recover. Credit to my team, it’s a total team effort. Credit to our defense in the second half. Maganda ‘yung puso ng mga bata,” added the second-year Hotshots head mentor on the win.
Ian Sangalang chipped in 11 markers and eight boards for Magnolia.
Stanley Pringle powered the Batang Pier with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. Romeo, who had a spat with GlobalPort head coach Pido Jarencio in the third, was his only support with 14 markers, five caroms and five dimes.
The neon-clad team played without Sean Anthony for the majority of the match due to a sprained ankle, which he incurred in the first quarter. He only played for a total of two minutes and 18 seconds with only one shot attempt.
The Scores:
Magnolia 86 — Barroca 17, Lee 14, Pingris 13, Sangalang 11, Melton 7, Simon 7, Ramos 6, Jalalon 5, Brondial 4, Reavis 2, Dela Rosa 0.
Globalport 79 — Pringle 31, Romeo 14, Grey 9, Sargent 7, Nabong 5, Elorde 4, Taha 3, Teng 3, Gabayni 2, Araña 1, Anthony 0, Guinto 0.
Quarterscores: 12-26, 34-45, 61-59, 86-79.
