It’s on to the quarterfinals for Magnolia.
The Hotshots advanced to the next round of the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup after surviving Terrafirma, 108-100, Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Ian Sangalang fired 23 points and eight rebounds, Mark Barroca made 21, while Paul Lee added 17 as they thwarted the Dyip’s rally from 15 down.
Sangalang sank a lay-up off a broken play before Barroca nailed a triple and a floater toward a 106-98 lead with exactly 51 seconds remaining.
Lee then canned both of his free throws to make it a 108-98 lead with seven seconds left as the veteran troika put together the finishing 9-0 kick.
That was all enough for Magnolia to hike their card to 6-4 and secure a solid bounce-back after being blown out by Meralco, 74-51, the last time out.
“It happened na we had a bad game last game, so we just went to practice and moved forward,” offered head coach Chito Victolero postgame.
“Because sabi ko nga kanina, ‘yung destiny namin, kontrolado pa naman namin. We just need to bounce back hard and get into the playoff mentality.”
Rafi Reavis, 47, provided 10 points and 13 rebounds in the win that assured the team of playing in a best-of-3 series as among the third to sixth seeds.
“So iyon, lumabas naman ‘yung laro ngayon and ito namang mga players, alam nila kung gaano ka-importante laro na ito,” added Victolero.
Magnolia will look to finish the highest it could against TNT in the last elimination round gameday on May 5, Sunday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Wasted by the rally that fell short, meanwhile, were the season-high 32 points of Stephen Holt to lead Terrafirma, who ended the eliminations at 5-6.
The Dyip could either secure a quarters ticket or see themselves in a playoff for the No. 8 spot, depending on the remaining games’ results.
The Scores:
Magnolia 108 – Sangalang 23, Barroca 21, Lee 17, Reavis 10, Eriobu 8, Balanza 8, Jalalon 7, Dela Rosa 5, Dionisio 5, Tratter 4.
Terrafirma 100 – Holt 32, Tiongson 14, Go 13, Gomez de Liano 13, Cahilig 9, Alolino 7, Carino 7, Sangalang 4, Ramos 1, Calvo 0, Camson 0.
Quarterscores: 28-16, 50-44, 80-71, 108-100.
