Magnolia staved off elimination and essayed a dominant 107-78 victory over Eastern to keep in step in the race for the final two spots in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Sunday, Jan. 26.

Fighting for their dear lives, the Hotshots showed a sense of urgency and built a huge 19-point advantage at the break – a lead that they never relinquished until the final horn to forge a three-way tie at the eighth spot along with San Miguel and NLEX.

The three teams had an identical 5-6 records and they are jockeying for position for the last two playoff berths.

Ricardo Ratliffe, who joined hands with Magnolia young guns Zav Lucero and Jerom Lastimosa, came three assists shy of a triple-double with his 25 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists to go with two steals and a block.

Playing extended minutes off the bench with Paul Lee just coming back from a knee injury, Lastimosa stepped up and fired 20 points to go with five rebounds and four assists while Lucero also had 20 points and nine rebounds.

The Hotshots were rock solid on the defensive end, particularly in the second frame where they limited Eastern to just 12 points while also firing 26 to take a 50-31 lead at the break.

Eastern did pick up its scoring in the second half but Magnolia simply had answers to their every run to keep the Hong Kong-based crew at bay.

Chris McLaughlin paced Eastern with 20 points while Glen Yang and Kobey Lam had 13 and 12, respectively. Eastern dropped to a 7-4 record at the sixth spot although it still has a legitimate chance at contending for the twice-to-beat bonus with one game left in its elimination schedule.