PBA: Magnolia clinches 6th seed in quarterfinals
THE Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok are entering the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup as the sixth seed after dispatching the NLEX Road Warriors, 102-74, in the curtain-raiser of the last day of eliminations on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Needing to win to claim the solo sixth spot, the Hotshots did not allow the opportunity to slip away, dominating the Road Warriors early in the contest and never relinquishing control the rest of the way for the win that took them to 6-5 at the end of the classification phase of the season-opening Philippine Basketball Association tournament.
Paul Lee led the Hotshots in their dominant win with 26 points.
The game was tight at the start with Magnolia holding just a slim four-point lead, 20-16, by the end of the first 12 minutes.
In the second quarter, on the lead of Mr. Lee and Ian Sanggalang, the Hotshots widened the gap, sprinting to a 46-30 lead at the break.
With control of the match, Magnolia came out firing in the third period.
Aldrech Ramos and Mark Barroca joined the scoring fray, helping Magnolia stretch its lead to 25 points several times, the last time at 73-48 with two minutes left.
When the third-quarter smoke cleared the Hotshots held a 77-54 advantage.
In the fourth quarter, NLEX tried to gain some ground, mostly with its reserves.
But nothing significant would come out of it as Magnolia kept the pounding the saw them building a lead as high as 31 points, 97-68, at the 5:02 mark.
The count was at 102-72 with two minutes to go and the Hotshots cruised to the win after.
Mr. Ramos scored 15 points and Mr. Barroca 14 to support Mr. Lee in the scoring department.
For NLEX, it was Bong Galanza who led with 10 points.
“We achieved our goal of getting the sixth seed. Our defense had something to do with that. We wanted to limit NLEX and match their intensity,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero after their big win.
As the sixth seed, Magnolia faces off with the sure third seed Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in a best-of-three quarterfinal affair.
With the loss, NLEX dropped to 4-7 and may have to play for their quarterfinal lives in a one-game playoff.