ANTIPOLO — Magnolia stayed alive in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup after submitting arguably its best performance in quite a while to deal Hong Kong Eastern a 107-78 decimation at the Ynares Center here Sunday evening.
Pushed into a do-or-die situation after NLEX joined San Miguel at eighth in the standings last night, the Hotshots made it a three-way tie again following a dominant conquest of the guest team, sparked by a big second quarter.
All three are now toting 5-6 records, with Coach Chito Victolero and Co. hoping for the Beermen to lose to TNT later tonight to boost their own playoff bid.
“The word is survival. We tried to approach this game with a sense of urgency, with a proper mindset,” said head coach Chito Victolero.
(C) PBA Images
Ricardo Ratliffe led Magnolia with 25 points on 50-percent shooting from the floor, alongside 16 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and a block.
Jerom Lastimosa and Zav Lucero delivered 20 points apiece as the young guns helped string together a 13-2 run to open the second quarter and construct a 37-21 lead, setting the tone for the eventual 29-point rout.
Playing a role as well in that breakaway were Ian Sangalang and Mark Barroca, who went on to finish with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
“‘Yung 10 days break namin, maganda yung nangyari,” Victolero said. “We cleaned up everything, lahat ng kulang namin. We’re so focused. I want to give credit to the players because for the last six practices, they are so focused.”
Now they look to emulate such an outing in facing Meralco on January 31 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig, with the aim to remain in the picture.
“The goal is to survive. Now, we will live for another day. We will try to prepare again for the next game,” said Victolero.
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Chris McLaughlin, meanwhile, had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Hong Kong, which fell to 7-4 and dropped to joint fifth with Barangay Ginebra.
With their loss, only the Tropang Giga and the Bolts are left sharing the no. 2 spot with identical 7-3 records although it may change depending on the result of the flagship MVP franchise’s meeting against the Beermen.
The Scores:
Magnolia 107 – Ratliffe 25, Lastimosa 20, Lucero 20, Sangalang 14, Barroca 11, Dela Rosa 8, Abueva 5, Alfaro 4, Lee 0, Dionisio 0, Laput 0.
Hong Kong Eastern 78 – McLaughlin 20, Yang 14, Lam 13, Cao 9, Blankley 9, Guinchard 4, Cheung 3, Pok 3, Chan 2, Zhu 1, Xu 0.
Quarterscores: 24-19, 50-31, 78-56, 107-78.
