ANTIPOLO – No one feels more pleased than Chito Victolero with the way his young charges have been responding to the pressure of helping Magnolia keep itself within the playoff rac e of the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.
“We need the young guys,” the champion mentor said. “We need the young guys to help these veterans because it’s a collective effort from everyone.”
The Hotshots on Sunday evening avoided going on an early vacation after handing Hong Kong Eastern a 107-78 beatdown at the Ynares Center here.
It was their second victory in a row, marking the first time in this conference that they put together consecutive wins. The traditional contenders struggled to find the kind of consistency earlier mainly due to injuries.
And in this mini-win streak of theirs, the youth brigade — which could potentially become key cogs of the franchise in the future — has played a key role.
(C) PBA Images
In their rout of the guest team, Zav Lucero and Jerom Lastimosa helped out in the second-quarter breakaway, eventually finishing with 20 points apiece.
The rookie guard out of Adamson even had a highlight play in that game, when he nailed an acrobatic reverse to push their lead to 21 during the third.
Lastimosa also had five rebounds and four assists, while the former UP winger flirted with a double-double after hauling down nine boards.
Not to be forgotten is Peter Alfaro, who performed commendably in their 110-104 win over Phoenix last January 16 at the Philsports Arena.
There, the rook from San Beda came through with 14 points. He made the most out of his starting gig for a team that, to this day, continues to shuffle its backcourt as a way to deal with the recovering Paul Lee.
The veteran gunslinger, though, was reactivated after being sidelined due to a slight meniscus tear and even played for 12 minutes against Eastern but he’s yet to reach full health as he continues to regain his shape.
But thankfully for Magnolia, the younger talents have been more than willingly stepping up to the [late, leaving Victolero beaming with pride — and hopeful, too, that they’d sustain as much, as the Hotshots continue the chase to the playoffs.
“I told them it’s not one or two or three players that need to step up for this game, but everyone,” said the former Coach of the Year.
“That’s including our utility guys. That’s the sense of urgency in us. We need everyone — down to our utility, to Ian [Sangalang] and Ricardo [Ratliffe] — to have that proper mindset and sense of urgency.”
