Kings, Hotshots arrange semis faceoff

MANILA, Philippines — Top seed Barangay Ginebra and No. 4 Magnolia finished off their respective quarterfinals opponents both in one game, thus, arranging a highly anticipated Final Four showdown in the PBA Governors Cup.

The Gin Kings simply sustained their dominant ride from the elimination round and crushed the NLEX Road Warriors, 111-75, while the Hotshots rode high on Romeo Travis’ sterling all-around performance to thwart the Blackwater Elite, 103-99, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Arwind Santos and LA Tenorio are former national players given a call back to the national pool, leading a 20-man roster named as candidates to the national team for the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter banner the frontline while Jayson Castro, Paul Lee, Alex Cabagnot and LA Tenorio lead the powerhouse backcourt cast in the pool that includes Kai Sotto and Ritchie Rivero as developmental players.

Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle are likely again to alternate as naturalized player. Others named in the pool are Matthew Wright, Marcio Lassiter, Scottie Thompson, Gabe Norwood, Troy Rosario, Beau Belga, JP Erram and Ian Sangalang.

Thus Ginebra and Magnolia set up an interesting best-of-five semifinals.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Phoenix Petroleum and No. 3 Alaska Milk also go for outright semifinal entry in their respective matchups with No. 7 Meralco and No. 6 San Miguel Beer over at the Cuneta Astrodome tonight.

Justin Brownlee scored only 13 points but the Kings enjoyed tremendous firepower from local aces Japeth Aguilar, Greg Slaughter, Sol Mercado and Jeff Chan to blow past the Road Warriors.

Travis sizzled with a triple-double game capped by two crucial assists at endgame as Magnolia booked the first semifinals berth. The one-time Best Import awardee dished out gems of passes to Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon.

The scores:

First Game

Magnolia 103 – Lee 22, Travis 18, Sangalang 18, Simon 16, Barroca 9, Melton 8, Brondial 4, Reavis 3, Dela Rosa 3, Jalalon 2.

Blackwater 99 – Walker 18, Erram 15, Zamar 13, Maliksi 12, Belo 11, Digregorio 8, Pinto 7, Sumang 7, Al-Hussaini 4, Javier 4, Jose 0.

Quarterscores: 32-22, 55-47, 76-78, 103-99

Second Game

Ginebra 111 – Aguilar 18, Slaughter 16, Mercado 14, Brownlee 13, Chan 12, Mariano 8, Ferrer 7, Tenorio 7, Thompson 6, Caperal 5, Aguilar R. 3, Manuel 2.

NLEX 75 – Fuller 25, Quiñahan 9, Paniamogan 9, Galanza 7, Ighalo 6, Fonacier 5, Mallari 4, Rios 4, Miranda 3, Monfort 3, Tiongson 0, Tallo 0, Taulava 0.

Quarterscores: 26-20, 50-36, 76-62, 111-75