Seven-team scramble for 5 PBA PH Cup slots

With Paul Lee again in dazzling offensive form, Magnolia nailed in Cagayan de Oro Saturday the No. 2 spot behind defending champion San Miguel Beer and the other twice-to-beat bonus reserved for the top two teams after the eliminations of the PBA Philippine Cup.

Lee, in his second game after an injury, unloaded 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half at the Xavier University gym to power the Hotshots to a 94-65 rout of the injury-depleted Meralco Bolts and finish their schedule at 8-3 behind the 8-2 mark of the Beermen.

The Bolts, the losing finalists in the last tournament but hounded by injuries to key players this time, failed to survive the eliminations with a 4-7 record. Unlucky until the end, they lost guard Baser Amer due to a bad fall in the first quarter.

San Miguel secured the

No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals on Friday with a scrambling 108-106 decision of a lowly Kia squad that bowed out of the event with a pitiful 1-10 record.

Marcio Lassiter delivered the winner on an undergoal stab with 1.8 seconds left after a perfect inbound pass from Chris Ross.

Even if SMB drops its last game against Rain or Shine this Wednesday, the Beermen are assured of topping the eliminations with their earlier conquest of the Hotshots. As topnotcher, SMB will face the last and No. 8 qualifier in the quarterfinals with Magnolia taking on the No. 7 squad.

While Alaska (7-4) is assured of a spot among the next four qualifiers behind Magnolia that will collide in two best-of-three series to advance, three teams are crowding the fourth-running NLEX Road Warriors (6-4).

Rain or Shine is fifth at 5-4 while Barangay Ginebra and GlobalPort are tied at 5-5.

Ginebra and Rain or Shine will clash on the last playing date of the eliminations on March 2. Also up on that day is the GlobalPort-Phoenix duel with the Fuel Masters hoping to tie the 5-6 record of the eighth-running Blackwater Elite.

NLEX ends its stint on Wednesday against TNT Katropa which is also hoping to win and join the logjam for No. 8, which will be decided by a playoff.

Adding to the excitement of the concluding games will be the return of the Gilas Pilipinas players to their respective teams following their stint in the second window of the Asian qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup against Australia and Japan.

National coach Chot Reyes will reassemble the Gilas squad in June for the third window of the qualifiers before the Nationals train their sight on the Asian Games in August in Indonesia.