Magnolia Pambansang Manok came back from being down early in the fourth quarter to beat Meralco, 88-79, in the opener of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series at the Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Calvin Abueva overcame five personal fouls to spark the Hotshots rally from a six-point deficit in the final period to draw first blood in the best-of-seven showdown.
Abueva scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth, highlighted by a dunk off a steal from Bolts guard Anjo Caram with 2:46 left that gave Magnolia an 82-72 lead.
Ian Sangalang also made key plays in the fourth on his way to 18 points and eight rebounds for Magnolia, which finally got the job done after squandering a big lead in the final two minutes of its elimination round encounter with Meralco last Sept. 1.
“We learned a lot from our game last time, yung eliminations,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero. “We only played for 46 minutes. Dito, kung makikita ninyo, even if we were up by 12 we kept on pressuring the ball because we know they can come back.
“Yun lang ang gusto namin. We want to finish the game kumbaga talagang hard,” added Victolero.
The Bolts fell short in the contest that had eight ties and five lead changes, with their last lead coming at 69-63 when Allein Maliksi drained a triple with over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth.
But the Hotshots countered with 10 straight points, ending on a Rafi Reavis layup with 5:19 left for 73-69.
A free throw by Cliff Hodge ended the drought for Meralco, but Magnolia went on an 11-4 run to make it an 85-74 lead on Abueva’s last basket with two minutes to play in the match.
Learning its lessons from the elims, the Hotshots didn’t suffer any meltdown and were able to preserve the lead until the final buzzer.
Tensions flared a bit when the game ended after a few Meralco players had an exchange of words with their Magnolia counterparts, a situation Victolero cited for the nature of what’s at stake at this point of the conference.
Bong Quinto had 14 points and 10 assists for the Bolts, Mac Belo and Caram scored 11 each and Reynel Hugnatan added 10 in the loss.
The scores:
MAGNOLIA 88 — Sangalang 18, Lee 17, Abueva 13, Jalalon 12, Barroca 11, Reavis 9, Dela Rosa 6, Dionisio 2, Corpuz 0, Ahanmisi 0, Pascual 0.
MERALCO 79 — Quinto 14, Belo 11, Caram 11, Hugnatan 10, Almazan 9, Newsome 8, Hodge 7, Pinto 6, Maliksi 3, Pasaol 0.
Quarters: 22-17, 47-40, 61-64, 88-79.