Magnolia gains share of lead
Magnolia Ang Pambansang Manok coach Chito Victolero reined in his main players to give them a prolonged rest, limiting their playing minutes.
That did not stop the Hotshots from fashioning a 11395romp over hapless Columbian Wednesday that gave the former a share of the lead in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Romeo Travis led the onslaught with 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists while Mark Barroca, Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang did their part in helping Magnolia realize a third straight win after playing its fourth game in 10 days.
Before going on a welldeserved week-long respite, the Hotshots jacked their record to 5-1 for a tie with idle Barangay Ginebra and hope to be refreshed and even more fully charged for another tough stretch featuring games against Blackwater (Oct. 10), Alaska (Oct. 14) and Meralco (Oct. 19).
Victolero said the biggest factor was his players not letting up on their defensive tenacity like they did in their recent wins over San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine.
"This is a very important game for us," said Victolero. "I told my players na kung anuman iyung mindset na min against San Miguel, kung anuman mindset namin against Rain or Shine, we need to do it against Columbian. Kasi we cannot afford to relax.
"We needed to finish (the eliminations) strong. This is a testament to our defensive mindset. We need to have that best effort kahit sino pa kalaban namin. Kaya nga very proud ako sa mga players ko dahil for 48 minutes ginawa nila. Iyung desire nandoon."
Also greatly enhanced are Magnolia's chances of inclusion among the top four at the end of the 11-game eliminations and a twice-to-beat advantage over a lower-ranked opponent in the eight-team quarterfinals.
Pity Columbian, which suffered its seventh loss in as many games and had its woes in the season-ending tourney stretched to 23 games dating back to the 2016 edition.
Jackson Corpuz's 20 points and nine rebounds were enough to lead the Dyip, who also drew 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and as many turnovers from Akeem Wright and 15 points from JR Reyes.
J err amy King and Ra shawn McCarthy finished with 12 markers apiece, which were 11 below their combined average.
In contrast, Barroca wound up with 16 points, Lee 13 and Sangalang 11. Even Jio Jalalon had a gamehigh nine assists despite each of them not even reaching 24 minutes of playing time, a stark departure from their usual norms.
The nine other players Victolero fielded also rallied behind Travis in helping carve the win, which readily became apparent when Magnolia broke off right in the first quarter which ended with Barroca booming in a buzzer-beating triple.
That seemed to have fired up the Hotshots even more as they even led by as big as 28 points twice, the last at 79-51, midway in the third quarter.
When the two teams went into the fourth quarter, Magnolia was still comfortably ahead 92-70. —