Quarters race muddled up

SMART CLARK GIGA CITY, Pampanga, Philippines — The race for the quarterfinals got muddled up as teams in the fringes of the playoffs’ cutoff made their big move in yesterday’s PBA Philippine Cup quadruple header.

Meralco jumped one spot to sixth after edging Blackwater, 89-85, while Magnolia and NLEX pulled off major reversals against the Top 2 teams in the standings to position themselves at eighth and ninth, respectively.

The Hotshots, unleashing their trademark defense, brought down pacesetting TNT Tropang Giga, 102-92, to post their first back-to-back wins in the bubble at the AUF Sports Arena Powered by Smart 5G and improve to 3-4.

On a high from their huge stunner over TNT last week, the recharged Road Warriors scored a followup upset over second-running Rain or Shine in their morning tussle, 94-74, to go 3-5.

The Tropang Giga, who reported for action merely 24 hours after their quarters-assuring 112-87 rout of NorthPort, suffered their second loss in eight outings.

From No. 2, the E-Painters slipped to fourth with 4-2 card.

Meralco pulled through despite committing 26 turnovers, gaining from Chris Newsome’s timely hits to take an 83-78 cushion for the crucial win over Blackwater. The Elite skidded to their fourth straight setback and fell to 10th at 2-5.

“It wasn’t a pretty game. We had too many turnovers, made a lot of mistakes down the stretch but we did enough to win and that’s all that really matters now,” said Meralco coach Norman Black. “The guys stepped up and gave us a better chance of making it to the playoffs.”

The well-rested Hotshots, who beat Barangay Ginebra in their previous assignment (102-92) last Oct. 25, fended off the weary Tropang Giga’s furious fightback from 18 points down with a strong finishing kick to prevail.

“We kept our composure and stuck to our game plan especially on defense,” said Paul Lee who rifled in 27 highlighted by a 4-of-8 clip from downtown. “We really needed this win to continue our rise in the standings.”

NLEX stayed within striking distance with their 20-point rout at high noon.

“One big thing is we’re now getting in better shape,” said NLEX mentor Yeng Guiao.

“At first we weren’t in good shape and our defense was lousy but in the last couple of games, our improving fitness translated to extra energy on defense and you can’t beat teams like TNT and ROS if you’re not up to it defensively,” he added.

NLEX hit 16 triples all game, making six of them in the fourth, where it took the fight out of the E-Painters via a 30-17 scoring disparity.