MAGNOLIA Chicken Timplados rode on the strong game of Mark Barroca to roll back NLEX, 98-89, in the opener of their best-of-three quarterfinal showdown in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Barroca finished with a game-high of 24 points on 3-of-6 shootng from the rainbow territory and seven rebounds to power the Hotshots to victory over the Road Warriors.

With his scoring splurge, Barroca became the 94th member of the PBA’s 5,000-point club. The former Far Eastern University standout achieved the milestone early in the third quarter.

Paul Lee and Calvin Abueva added 13 points apiece and Ian Sangalan contribited 12 for the Hotshots, who led by as many as 17 points.

Magnolia’s victory over NLEX was a repeat of their 87-73 triumph in their lone encounter in the elimination round.

Anthony Semerad had 19 points for NLEX.

Later, Meralco beat Barangay Ginebra’ 93-82, to take the headstart in their oqn quarterfinal series.

Aaron Black topscored with 25 points for the Bolts’ who pulled away for good in the third period.

Chris Newsome and Allein Maliksi added 19 and 17 points’ respectively.

Meanwhile, June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer leads all players in the race for the PBA Best Player of the Conference award in the PBA Philippine Cup.

Fajardo, who is seeking a record ninth BPC award, piled up 43.2 average statistical points (SPs) in the elimination round to grab pole position against SMB teammate CJ Perez (39.5) and Season 46 MVP Scottie Thompson of Barangay Ginebra (37.9).

Fajardo, nicknamed the “Kraken”, posted averages of 18.5 points, a league-best 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1 steal and 1.6 blocks to remain in strong contention for another accolade, his first BPC since the 2019 All-Filipino.

His closest pursuer Perez, averaged 17.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.5 steals.

Thompson is third with averages of 15.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals.

Running fourth and fifth were Japeth Aguilarof Ginebra (16.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg and a league-leading 2.5 bpg) and Jio Jalalon of Magnolia (13.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, tournament-best 6.9 apg, and 2.5 spg) at fifth with 34.1 SPs.

The scores:

First game

Magnolia (98) – Barroca 24, Lee 13, Abueva 13, Sangalang 12, Jalalon 10, Corpuz 10, Dela Rosa 6, Wong 5, Dionisio 3, Reavis 2, Escoto 0.
NLEX (89) – Semerad 19, Oftana 15, Trollano 15, Nieto 12, Chua 11, Quinahan 8, Paniamogan 3, Soyud 2, Varilla 2, Ighalo 2
Quarterscores: 24-26, 64-47, 81-70, 98-89.

Second game

Meralco (93) – Black 25, Newsome 19, Maliksi 17, Hodge 10, Quinto 9, Almazan 5, Banchero 4, Pascual 4, Johnson 0, Hugnatan 0, Pasaol 0.
Ginebra (82) – Thompson 29, Standhardinger 12, Chan 11, J.Aguilar 10, Pinto 8, Pringle 6, Mariano 5, Onwubere 1, David 0, Tenorio 0.
Quarterscores: 32-25, 53-43, 80-62, 93-82.

Games Wednesday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
3 p.m. — TNT vs. Converge
6 p.m. — San Miguel vs. Blaxkwater