Magnolia steals Game 1 from SMB in PBA Phil. Cup
Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok overcame a huge deficit with a strong fourth quarter to steal Game 1 of the PBA Philippines Cup finals from San Miguel Beermen with 105-103 last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Beermen led by as much as 20 points but the Hotshots cut down the lead at the end of the third down to 14 points, 89-75.
Magnolia then started out the fourth quarter swinging with a 13-0 run to trim it down to a single point deficit, 88-89. Reigning MVP June Fajardo stopped the bleeding with jumper in the 6:56 mark ending the drought.
Magnolia finally tied the game, 97-97, with floater by Paul Lee. Arwind Santos scored his free throws and Fajardo scored down the paint for a three-point point San Miguel lead, 100-97, with 2:31 left.
Raffy Reavis scored down low with a foul by Santos. He missed his bonus throw.
Mark Barroca hit a crucial jump shot to give the Hotshots a 101-100 lead from a broken play. Ian Sangalang scored a jumper from the corner to give Magnolia a 103-100 lead with 43 seconds left following an empty trip by San Miguel.
After a timeout, Marcio Lassiter hit a three-pointer to tie it at 103-103 with 33.9 seconds remaining.
Sangalang pump-faked Fajardo to earn free throws. He converted both charities to give Magnolia the lead, 105-103.
With the tight defense by Magnolia, Alex Cabagnot was forced to take the fall-away jumper that bounced off the rim and into the hands of Reavis, who called a timeout while apparently stepping out of bounds.
Jio Jalaon was quickly fouled but missed both of his free throws with three seconds left. He also grabbed his sixth foul while fighting for the offensive rebound against Ross with 2.6 seconds remaining.
San Miguel had one more opportunity to tied the game but Santos’ jumper was blocked by Reavis.
Sangalang led Magnolia with 29 points, nine rebounds and two steals from 13 out of 19 shooting. Aldrech Ramos, Barroca and Rome dela Rosa were also in double digits with 15, 14 and 11 respectively.
Fajardo had a huge night with 31 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks but had 11 turnovers. Fajardo also had a good supporting cast with Cabagnot scoring 27 points, Lassiter with 23 and Santos with 19.
Game 2 is on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. /