RANGED against an undermanned NLEX side, Magnolia rolled to its eight straight victory and moved within a win of a lofty goal last night.
Wielding a balanced attack, the red-hot Hotshots tripped the Road Warriors 98-89 last night in Game 1 of their best-of-3 quarterfinals duel in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Foremost among those who did the damage for No. 3 Magnolia was guard Mark Barroca, who sparkled with a game-high 24 points, to go with seven rebounds and two assists on the night he joined the pro league’s 5,000 points club.
Paul Lee chipped in 13 markers, three boards, and five dimes, while Calvin Abueva had 13 and eight.
Ian Sangalang, Jio Jalalon, and Jackson Corpuz also added 12, 10, and 10 points, respectively, for the Hotshots, who scored a big follow-up to their 75-66 triumph over Blackwater three days ago.
Sixth seed NLEX came off a 109-95 drubbing of NorthPort last Friday.
Magnolia will try to wrap up the race-to-2 series on Friday at The Arena in San Juan.
The Hotshots are reaping the fruits of their hard work after starting the season-opening tourney with a 1-3 mark.
“Kita niyo naman na it’s very hard and talagang grind out game kahit hanggang dulo. They’re (Road Warriors) very physical, emotional so we just tried to focus for 48 minutes, and we wanted to give our 100 percent effort, our best effort every single possession,” Magnolia coach Chito Victolero said.
“Medyo maganda iyong execution namin on both ends — the discipline, the effort, the aggressiveness, everything. I think we’re peaking at the right time because we started very slow (this conference). Hindi naman kami nagduda sa sarili namin because I know these players, I know this team. We’re veteran enough para ma-overcome iyong adversities,” he added.
The Hotshots zoomed to a fast start and posted their biggest lead 64-47 at the half before the Road Warriors cut the deficit to 70-81 heading into the payoff period.
Refusing to lie down and die, NLEX closed in at 89-96 on a Paul Varilla layup with 1:15 to go but Magnolia forced a turnover, leading to an Abueva slam dunk that pegged the final count, only 35 ticks left.
Tony Semerad carried the fight for the Road Warriors with 19 points and six caroms, while Don Trollano and Calvin Oftana combined for 30 markers.
Matt Nieto and Justin Chua also had 12 and 11 points, respectively for NLEX, which missed the services of Kevin Alas and Kris Rosales (health and safety protocols).
Barroca became the 94th member of the 5,000 points group after he scored on a layup at the 7:32 mark of the third quarter.
