Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Magnolia notched its second straight win after sinking NorthPort, 104-87, in the PBA Governors’ Cup Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Hotshots took sole ownership of the second seed with a 2-0 record behind the league-leading Aces (3-0) while the Batang Pier are still winless after three outings.
After the struggling to shake off the Batang Pier at the start of the fourth, the Hotshots went on a 17-5 run that Mark Barroca capped off with a left corner triple that put Magnolia up 94-71 with 5:26 left in the game.
Magnolia played without star guard Paul Lee who served international duty with the men’s national basketball team in the Asian Games in Indonesia but head coach Chito Victolero said they were able to compensate for the absence with sheer collective effort.
“Our adjustment was our effort, we doubled it up,” said Victolero in Filipino. “We didn’t have a key player with us but I’m very happy with my guards and they stepped up big time for us in our last two games.”
“I think Barroca, [Jio] Jalalon, PJ [Simon], and Justin [Melton] compensated for Lee’s absence.”
Barroca took care of the scoring load for the Hotshots with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting while coming away with five steals.
Rome Dela Rosa added 17 points for the Hotshots with import Romeo Travis doing the dirty work with 15 points and 15 rebounds while Jalalon orchestrated the offense with 13 points and eight assists.
Magnolia also stole the ball 19 times marking a steals record for the franchise.
Rashad Woods and Paolo Taha had 25 and 22 points, respectively, to lead the Batang Pier who played without Stanley Pringle who was Lee’s teammate in the Asian Games