SECURITY was tightened at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday night following death threats received by Magnolia players Ian Sangalang, William, Navarro, and Paul Lee in the aftermath of the Hotshots’ 107-99 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors in the battle of top teams in the PBA Philippine Cup.
An apparent dummy account posted comments on the Instagram accounts of Sangalang, Navarro, and Lee threatening harm on the players and their respective families, saying he lost a huge amount of money betting on the game.
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The players had to be escorted out of their way at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium as Magnolia management coordinated the matter on PBA personnel.
The threatening messages were made by someone using the account daniel.wang27 and posted on the comments sections of old photos posted by Sangalang, Navarro and Lee.
[Warning: Posts contain foul language]
The incident was similar to the case involving Barangay Ginebra rookie RJ Abarrientos, who was also threatened by a netizen on his Instagram account along with his family after missing a four-point attempt in the endgame of the Kings’ 108-104 loss to Meralco in Game 2 of their playoffs series during the last Commissioner’s Cup.
That game, coincidentally, was also held at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The PBA later coordinated the matter to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after Abarrientos posted on his Instagram story. The league nor the NBI have not bared the result of the investigation.
Sangalang actually was the second leading scorer in the Hotshots’ second straight loss in a week’s span with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
But he committed a total of five turnovers including a bad pass to rookie Jerom Lastimosa with 1:34 to play and Magnolia down by 10 (101-91).
The unforced error led to a Robert Bolick three pointer at the other end.
Lee finished with 16 and was 3-of-4 from four-point range, while Navarro, in only his second game with the Hotshots after being acquired in a trade with Northport, finished with 2 points on 1-of-7 shooting, but grabbed seven rebounds.
The loss dropped Magnolia to a 7-3 record and in third place after consistently leading the standings from the get-go.
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