Nov 27, 2022

Magnolia tightens grip on No.2 spot after lopsided win over Meralco

MAGNOLIA leaned on a killer of a third quarter to beat Meralco, 108-96, Sunday and stoke its drive for an outright top two finish in the PBA Commissioner's Cup eliminations at the PhilSports Arena.

Paul Lee scored 11 of his team-high 27 points in the third in leading a balanced attack on both ends of the floor that enabled the Hotshots to outscore the Bolts, 47-23, and take a 93-74 lead into the fourth canto.

Not even the foul trouble that plagued import Nico Rakocevic hampered Magnolia's drive as it even stretched the difference to 21 points twice before easily fending off Meralco's attempts at a fightback.

After putting behind them an 89-95 loss to Bay Area last Nov. 19 and improving to a 9-2 record, the Hotshots now only need to prevail over Rain or Shine on Friday to put a lock on No. 2 behind the Dragons and clinch the last win-once advantage in the quarterfinals.

"Our destiny is in our hands," said deputy coach Jason Webb, subbing for head coach Chito Victolero in the post-game presser.

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"We've got two games, we've handled Game One today and on Friday if we handled that the same way we did today then we get a bit of an advantage for the quarterfinals," added Webb.

Webb also credited the challenge put forth by Victolero during the halftime break for the explosion that was the highest in a quarter the league has seen since Phoenix had the same output in the last period of a loss to TNT in the 2016 Governors Cup.

"They definitely responded," noted Webb. "We scored 37-to-nothing in fastbreak and turnover points in that third quarter. That really turned things around."

Indeed, Meralco was nowhere near the same team that used a 15-0 blitz ending the second period to take a 51-46 lead at the break as it went 7-of-13 from the floor while also committing seven turnovers against Magnolia's 16-of-26 clip and five steals over the same penultimate period.

And while Lee was doing the most damage by booming in three of the Hotshots' total six triples in the quarter, his teammates did their part with Rakocevic, Mark Barroca, Ian Sangalang, Jio Jalalon, Rome dela Rosa and Calvin Abueva chipping in their share.

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Abueva finished with 17 points and five rebounds, Rakocevic notched 16 points and 20 boards, Jalalon 12 points and five steals, while Sangalang and Barroca each chipped in 11 markers.

KJ McDaniels led all scorers with 32 points, nine rebounds and four assists but committed five turnovers with Aaron Black adding 16 and Bong Quinto 14 points.

Allein Maliksi went scoreless after being tossed out early in the second period while Raymond Almazan exited with still 10:27 left and never returned after badly twisting his right ankle following a layup. (NC)

The Scores:

Magnolia 108 - Lee 27, Abueva 17, Rakocevic 16, Jalalon 12, Sangalang 11, Barroca 11, Dela Rosa 6, Ahanmisi 3, Reavis 2, Corpuz 2, Laput 1, Wong 0, Dionisio 0.

Meralco 96 - McDaniels 32, Black 16, Quinto 14, Banchero 11, Johnson 9, Almazan 8, Caram 2, Hodge 2, Pascual 2, Maliksi 0, Hugnatan 0, Pasaol 0, Jose 0.

Quarters: 27-21, 46-51, 93-74, 108-96.