Antonio Hester. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Magnolia played without let up all of Sunday night to clobber Barangay Ginebra, 118-88, in the renewal of the two clubs’ rivalry at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Save for the first six minutes of the game, the Hotshots looked sharp throughout the night to annex a second-straight victory after dropping its first three outings in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Leading the way for Magnolia is import Antonio Hester, who was an assist shy of a triple-double with 28 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists.
Mark Barroca paced the locals with 21 points as Paul Lee and Calvin Abueva finished 18 each in the effort that snapped the defending champion’s three-game winning streak.
It was quite a payback for the Hotshots, who squandered a big lead in their last encounter back in October. The Gin Kings won that outing 103-97.
Justin Brownlee finished with just 22 points and missed out on a milestone as he finished just two points behind Lew Massey’s 5,386 career points among imports, the 4th best throughout the PBA’s rich history.
Scottie Thompson had 19 points while Christian Standhardinger played his first game back, finishing with 17 and 11 rebounds. Jamie Malonzo chipped in 12 more as the crowd darlings now gird for San Miguel Beer.
Magnolia takes on NLEX next.