Magnolia formally clinched a quarterfinal berth in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup following a masterful 98-82 victory over the erstwhile streaking NLEX on Sunday evening at the Ynares Center II in Montalban, Rizal.
Bent on bouncing back after losing to Converge two nights ago, the Hotshots zoomed to a 10-0 start in the match before pulling away wide in the third canto on the way to becoming the fifth team to punch a ticket to the final eight.
Both teams are now sitting at second in the standings with identical 6-3 records, but the result should sting for the Road Warriors, as they got dislodged from sharing the no. 1 spot with San Miguel Beer, the FiberXers, and Rain or Shine.
Converge and the Elasto Painters–both at 6-2 and looking to strengthen their Top Four aspirations–are set to square off later tonight for the solo lead.
(C) PBA Images
“Every game for us is a playoff game,” offered head coach LA Tenorio. “Alam naman natin na dikit-dikit ‘yung standings, and isang talo lang talagang bagsak. So I have to give credit to all my players, they responded.”
“I told them before the game that this game would be the test of character for our team–a test of discipline and character for our team,” he added.
Six players finished in double figures in the triumph, led by Zavier Lucero with a full line of 18 points,12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Rome Dela Rosa made 14 points and five rebounds. Mark Barroca tallied a 12-4-4 stat line, while Chris Koon and James Laput scored 11 points apiece.
Ian Sangalang chipped in 10 markers in the wire-to-wire win, which saw Magnolia lead by as many as 22 points, 88-66, with seven minutes left.
Magnolia will now focus on its final two games in the elimination round, first against Rain or Shine on December 15 at the Khalifa Sport City in Bahrain and then versus TNT on December 21 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“This was a good test for us. We played a team that’s very well coached, sobrang ganda ng sistema na team, and hopefully this win will give us a big boost going to these last two games,” said Tenorio.
(C) PBA Images
NLEX, on the other hand, failed to stretch its winning streak to three after a night full of struggles, as embodied by main man Robert Bolick.
Bolick shot just 4-of-12 from the floor, including a 0-for-3 clip from four, and finished with just 12 points on top of a rebound and three assists.
Javee Mocon also had 12 points alongside eight rebounds, while the trio of Kevin Alas, Jonnel Policarpio, and Xyrus Torres had 11 each in the defeat.
The Road Warriors will wrap up their elimination round campaign against the Tropang 5G on December 13 and Converge four days later.
The Scores:
Magnolia 98 – Lucero 18, Dela Rosa 14, Barroca 12, Laput 11, Koon 11, Sangalang 10, Gomez de Liano 9, Lee 4, Lastimosa 4, Eriobu 3, Alfaro 2, Gomez 0.
NLEX 82 – Mocon 12, Bolick 12, Alas 11, Policarpio 11, Torres 11, Ramirez 7, Nieto 6, Baho 4, Valdez 4, Fajardo 2, Herndon 2, Capulong 0, Onwubere 0.
Quarterscores: 28-22, 47-30, 70-52, 98-82.
