MANILA, Philippines – Third seed Magnolia joined the march to the Final Four after posting a wire-to-wire 96-86 triumph over No. 6 Rain or Shine in Game Two of their own race-to-two contest in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Hotshots turned to a lot of heroes to close out the Elasto Painters and return to the semis after falling short last year.
Paul Lee (24), Calvin Abueva (20-19), Jia Jalalon (16 plus six assists) and Ian Sangalang (13-11) towed Magnolia to a double-digit spread then Mark Barroca (eight) put out the fire amid ROS’ endgame rally with dagger jump shots.
The Hotshots will take on the victor of today’s quarterfinal KO battle between No. 2 Meralco and No. 7 NLEX, in the next phase. The Road Warriors extinguished the Bolts’ twice-to-beat advantage with an 81-80 victory in their first game.
“Against Rain or Shine, it’s a defensive battle from start to finish, Kailangan naming mag-grind nang mag-grind for 48 minutes and I'm thankful nag-commit sila sa gusto naming mangyari,” said Magnolia mentor Chito Victolero after completing the task coming off an 81-70 opening verdict.
The Hotshots stormed to a 13-point upperhand at the halfway mark of the fourth but the defiant E-Painters mounted a fightback and came to within 86-92 with still 1:37 left. Barroca stepped to plate and racked up a personal 4-0 windup to ice it.
James Yap dished out his best performance of the meet with 16 for ROS.
The scores
Magnolia 96 – Lee 24, Abueva 20, Jalalon 16, Sangalang 13, Barroca 8, Corpuz 5, Ahanmisi 3, Dela Rosa 3, Reavis 2, Pascual 1, Dionisio 1.
Rain or Shine 86 – Yap 16, Nambatac 13, Mocon 9, Caracut 9, Wong 8, Santillan 8, Belga 8, Asistio 7, Norwood 3, Borboran 3, Ponferada 2, Guinto 0, Tolentino 0, Torres 0.
Quarterscores: 28-17, 49-41, 71-69, 96-86