Calvin Abueva of Magnolia powers his way to the basket. PBA photo
Crucial wins by Magnolia, Ginebra
MAGNOLIA survived a late fightback by Blackwater to eke out a crucial 110-95 victory and keep their hopes of making it to the semifinals alive in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.
Calvin Abueva tallied a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds, while import Antonio Hester added 22 points and 20 rebounds for the Hotshots, who finished the eliminations with a 7-4 record.
Abueva, nicknamed the “Beast”, made it an even memorable game as he became only the 96th member of the elite 5,000 point club.
Needing only eight points to achieve it, Abueva did it as early as the first quarter.
Richard Escoto also stepped up for Magnolia with 17 points while Rome Dela Rosa contributed 14 points.
Jio Jalalon dished out a game-high 11 assists for the Hotshots.
With the win, Magnolia now awaits the outcomes of the other games to see whether they would make it to the top four which has a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals or be among the lower-ranked teams.
Magnolia Chito Victolero said the Hotshots are ready come playoff time.
“What we can control, yun ang aming tra-trabahuhin, which is the game today. Then whatever happens to the other teams, hindi naming iyun kontrolado. Whatever iyung ibigay sa amin in the playoffs at least we have the chance, the opportunity,” said Victolero in an interview posted at the official PBA website.
Shawn Glover finished with 22 points for Blackwater followed by Jayvee Casio with 20 points and 10 assists and Baser Amer with 16 points.
The Bossing suffered their ninth straight defeat and wound up with a 1-10 win-loss slate.
Later, Justin Brownlee scored 38 points to lift Barangay Ginebra to a hard-earned 109-104 win over Terrafirma.
With the victory, the Kings asured themselves of a,Top Four finish.
Meanwhile, Christian Standhardinger of Ginebra was the unanimous choice as the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period March 1-5.
The 6-foot-8 Fil-German had near triple-double averages in the Kings’ last three games, including wins against playoff-bound teams Meralco and Converge.
Standhardinger averaged 29 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in a three-game winning run that allowed Ginebra to catch up with San Miguel Beer at second place with a 7-2 record.
Don Trollano of NLEX, finished runner-up to Standhardinger by the group sportswriters regularly covering the PBA beat.
The scores:
First game
Magnolia (110) — Abueva 27, Hester 22, Escoto 17, Dela Rosa 14, Lee 9, Dionisio 8, Barroca 6, Jalalon 4, Corpuz 3, Ahanmisi 0, Wong 0.
Blackwater (95) — Glover 22, Casio 20, Amer 16, Ular 12, Sena 6, Hill 6, Ayonayon 6, Ilagan 5, Suerte 2, Torralba 0, Rosario 0, Banal 0.
Quarterscores: 32-20, 48-45, 87-66, 110-95
Second game
Ginebra (109) – Brownlee 38, Standhardinger 23, Malonzo 16, Thompson 13, Pinto 9, Gray 7, Pringle 3.
Terrafirma (104) – J. Williams 35, Tiongson 18, Camson 11, Gomez de Liano 8, Calvo 7, Cahilig 7, Mina 7, Daquioag 3, Cabagnot 3, Ramos 3, Gabayni 2, Ferrer 0, Alolino 0.
Quarterscores; 26-24, 52-48, 78-79, 109-104.
Games March 15:
(Ynares Center Antipolo)
3 p.m. — NortPort vs. TNT
5:45 p.m. — NLEX vs. San Miguel
