HAPPY ENDING FOR HOTSHOTS
AS sweet as it gets and Chito Victolero feels nothing but euphoria after hoisting his first title as head coach of Magnolia. “This is the culmination of our hard work since last year. It boiled down to this game. I’m so proud of my players ,” Vic tolero said shortly after the Hotshots won the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup in six games against Alaska—102-86 in Game Six—on Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The champion coach couldn’t hide his satisfaction, and so does the franchise that waited for four years to finally bag the trophy.
It was in 2013 to 2014, when then head coach, Tim Cone, guided then San Mig Coffee to a season grand slam with James Yap, Peter June Simon and Marc Pingris in their most dominant elements.
But the team surprisingly went blank after that, season after season, and saw its top gun, Yap, and the celebrated Cone transfer to other teams.
Victolero recalled the hardships of his players after taking the helm in 2016.
The team, renamed Star, had three trips to the semifinals last season and lost all of them.
Victolero and wards used those series of meltdowns as motivation to fuel their intention of bagging the crown.
“We had three semifinals [stints] last year, and a Finals in the first conference. I can’t explain the feeling. We all had our share of sacrifices ,” Vic to le ros aid .“We built the chemistry of the team. We consider each other as brothers.”
In the title-clinching Game Six, Magnolia already smelled victory right in the opening quarter when they led 32-18.
Import Romeo Travis was unstoppable and made 18 of his game-high 32 points in the first half.
The locals provided excellent support with Ian Sangalang and Best Player of the Conference Paul Lee contributing 16 points apiece for the Hotshots.
Finals Most Valuable Player Mark Barroca and backcourt buddy Jio Jalalon added 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Magnolia.
The 16-point title-clinching victory proved that the players did not want a Game Seven. It was also a testament to the Hotshots learning from lessons of the past.
“They really worked for this one. We took our lessons and knew how to finish the series,” Victolero said.