Magnolia hardly played like a team that went undefeated for 14 straight games including the PBA on Tour during the first half of the Manila Clasico where it trailed by as many as 26 points against Barangay Ginebra.

Second half was an entirely different story as Jio Jalalon and import Tyler Bey helped the Hotshots turn the tides and pull off a pulsating 93-91 escape over their archrivals.

It turned out that an angry halftime pep talk from Chito Victolero was all the Hotshots needed to come to their senses.

Victolero shared that he went out shouting at his wards inside the dugout during the break over the team’s flat start and lethargic defense.

“At halftime, I kept on reminding them, actually shouting at them about how they outworked us in the first half, outhustled us in the first half, and they bullied us in the first half,” shared Victolero.

“I challenged these guys to play the Magnolia Hotshots basketball system, which is sacrificing and ball movement and our defensive mindset. Because they scored 60 points in the first half and that’s not our system,” he added.

Import Bey and spitfire guard Jalalon took the halftime pep talk as a fuel to come out with more energy in the second half.

Jalalon jumpstarted the massive third quarter run to overhaul the double-digit spread before Bey carried the Hotshots home by dropping 16 of his 31 points in the final frame.

“I never saw coach Chito like that, so for me, I felt it. I felt the energy, I felt the passion, I felt how bad he wanted it. We all wanted it. After that, it was just on us. We are the players on the court, he’s the coach, so we do what we have to do,” Bey said on the rare outburst from the amiable coach.

Jalalon echoed Bey’s sentiment, crediting his coach for the come-from-behind win after constantly reminding them on how they should play as a team.

“Sobrang galit siya sa aming lahat kasi yung pinakita namin nung first and second, hindi talaga yun Magnolia basketball, parang nagkaniya-kaniya kami e,” shared Jalalon.

“Na-remind kaming lahat. Nag-usap usap kami, be aggressive, kasi kailangan na ma-execute yung pinagagawa ng mga coaches. Thankful naman kami dun, na-remind kami. Kasi yun naman, nakita namin yung result na yun,” he added.