ANTIPOLO – Magnolia kept its hopes alive for a quarterfinal berth by defeating Eastern, 107-78, on Sunday in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center.
Ricardo Ratliffe had 25 points, 16 rebounds, and seven assists, Zavier Lucero scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Hotshots improved to 5-6 to stay in the hunt for at least the eighth and final spot in the quarterfinals.
Magnolia stood defiant in a game where a loss would have taken it out of the playoff picture, opening a big lead early then never giving the guest team from Hong Kong any opening to mount a comeback.
Eastern slipped to 7-4 after a loss that dampened its bid to clinch twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Eight.
Hotshots coach Chito Victolero lauded the level of focus that his team had shown starting in their January 16 win over Phoenix.
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“The word is survival. We tried to approach this game with a sense of urgency and the proper mindset. That’s our call, the defense. When our backs are against the wall, when we are in a do-or-die situation, we go to our strength which is our defense,” said Victolero.
“The long break, ‘yung 10 days break namin, maganda ‘yung nangyari para sa amin because we cleaned up everything, lahat nung mga kulang namin,” said Victolero. “We’re so focused and I want to give credit to the players because for the last six practices, they were so focused, they have the proper mindset and the goal is to survive.”
“Now we will live another day and we will try to prepare again for our next game,” said Victolero, referring to their final elimination-round game against Meralco.
The Hotshots outscored Eastern, 26-12, in the second quarter en route to a 50-31 halftime lead which held to the end.
Chris McLaughlin had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Glenn Yang added 14 points for Eastern.
The scores:
Magnolia 107 – Ratliffe 25, Lastimosa 20, Lucero 20, Sangalang 14, Barroca 11, Dela Rosa 8, Abueva 5, Alfaro 4, Lee 0, Laput 0, Dionisio 0.
Eastern 78 – McLaughlin 20, Yang 14, Lam 13, Blankley 9, Cao 9, Guinchard 4, Pok 3, Cheung 3, Chan 2, Zhu 1, Xu 0.
Quarters: 24-19; 50-31; 78-56; 107-78.
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