ANTIPOLO – Paul Lee scored 15 of his 26 points in the second quarter as Magnolia ripped San Miguel, 104-87, on Sunday at the Ynares Center to formally secure a berth in the quarterfinals of the PBA Season 46 Governors’ Cup.
Lee ignited the Hotshots in the second quarter when they outscored the Beermen, 32-21, on their way to a blowout victory - their seventh in eight games as they bounced back from a stunning defeat to NorthPort last Thursday.
San Miguel slipped to 5-4 after seeing its two-game winning streak on the night it tapped import Shabazz Muhammad in place of Orlando Johnson.
Muhammad, a five-year NBA veteran, scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in his highly-anticipated PBA debut, but the Beermen import faltered from the charity line and committed eight turnovers.
Lee clustered eight straight points in a run that turned a 38-37 lead into a 46-37 advantage to start the blowout.
Mike Harris joined the fray with 26 points and 13 rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting from threes as the Hotshots strengthened their bid for the No. 1 spot at the end of the eliminations - and the twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals.
A Harris jumper with 8:40 left in the game enabled the Hotshots to take a 91-67 lead, the largest of the game.
“We just tried to bounce back hard in this game. It’s a character game for us,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero. “Ang pinagusapan namin is to try to move forward. We know that we had a bad start in our last game. Kinapos kami. Pero in this game, we talked about how we would start strong and finish stronger.”
Aris Dionisio and Mark Barroca had 12 points apiece in the Hotshots win..
CJ Perez had 18 points, while Vic Manuel had 16 points in a losing cause for the Beermen, whose only lead was at 4-0 in the game.
The scores:
Magnolia 104 – Lee 26, Harris 26, Barroca 12, Dionisio 12, Jalalon 10, Sangalang 9, Corpuz 4, Wong 3, Reavis 2, Ahanmisi 0, Escoto 0.
San Miguel 87 – Muhammad 27, Perez 18, Manuel 16, Lassiter 11, Fajardo 6, Tautuaa 5, Romeo 4, Enciso 0, Ross 0, Brondial 0.
Quarters: 25-23; 57-44; 81-62; 104-87.
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