PBA: Magnolia topples TNT, moves to 8th

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MANILA, Philippines—Magnolia strung up its second straight win at the expense of TNT, 102-92, in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday at Angeles University Foundation.

The Hotshots climbed to 3-4 and overtook NLEX for the eighth seed in the conference while the Tropang Giga remained atop the standings at 6-2.

Holding off a tough TNT team for much of the game, Magnolia found its offense late in the game going on an 11-2 run to take a 93-83 lead with 3:57 to play in the game.

Going for a three-guard lineup in the fourth, the Hotshots had the right mix of speed and interior presence to stifle the Tropang Giga and this was how head coach Chito Victolero envisioned his uptempo style to play out.

“That’s our system, we want uptempo basketball and that’s why we have very good guards,” said Victolero. “It’s all about our defense. We don’t want TNT to get to 100 points and we know their firepower so we wanted to slow them down.”

Magnolia ramped up its defensive intensity late, limiting TNT to just two conversions from the three-point line in the final frame.

RR Pogoy and Troy Rosario, who averaged 21.7 and 14 points a game for TNT, were limited to season-lows of seven and six points, respectively.

Paul Lee led the Hotshots with 27 points that went with four rebounds and four assists while Chris Banchero added 19 points, four rebounds, and five assists.

Ian Sangalang nearly finished with a double-double with 15 points and nine boards while Mark Barroca also did a little bit of everything with 14 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.

Bobby Ray Parks Jr. paced TNT with 29 points and 12 rebounds while Jayson Castro had 25 points and four assists.