MAGNOLIA coach Chito Victolero took his charges to task after their slow start in the first half — enough to wake up the Hotshots from stupor last night.
Bolstered by a vicious third quarter breakway and Paul Lee’s explosion, Magnolia ripped Meralco 108-96 to boost its bid for the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Pau Lee dazzled with 27 points spiked by five three-pointers, to go with two rebounds for the Hotshots, while Calvin Abueva wound up with 17 markers, five boards, and three assists.
Import Nick Rakocevic also had 16 points, 20 rebounds, and three feeds, while Jio Jalalon, Ian Sangalang, and Mark Barroca added 12, 11, and 11 points, respectively for Magnolia.
The win redeemed the Hotshots from an 89-95 loss to pacesetter Bay Area last nine days ago and hiked their mark to 9-2.
The Bolts’ three-game winning run that included a 97-71 triumph over TNT last Nov. 16 came to a screeching halt and dropped them to 4-6.
Magnolia assistant coach Jason Webb praised Magnolia for showing resolve in the second half.
“Coach Chito challenged them during the halftime huddle, and they definitely responded because we scored 37-0 in fastbreak and turnover points in the third quarter that really turned things around,” Webb said. “It’s a good bounce back because we were run out on the floor in our last time and that’s something we really wanna work on.”
“I think we really had a bad second quarter and talagang galit na galit si coach Chito doon sa locker room, The guys responded by playing tough defense. What we talked about was at the start of the third, we got to make sure we’ll have a good start in the first few minutes, and they had good 12 minutes,” he added.
The Hotshots trailed 46-51 at the halfway mark but unleashed a 13-0 blitz that turned a 59-60 deficit to a 72-60 game on Jalalon’s two free throws with 4:56 to play in the third canto.
Magnolia outgunned Meralco 47-23 in the third and took a 93-74 bulge heading into the final stanza.
