MAGNOLIA survived its first battle for survival with flying colors by fashioning a 107-78 demolition of Hong Kong Eastern Sunday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Ricardo Ratliffe's 25 points and 16 rebounds led a determined charge by the Hotshots, who went into the game needing to win their last two games just to get a crack at crashing the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals.
"The word is survival. We tried to approach this game with a sense of urgency, with the proper mindset," said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero after the game which saw his squad seize control right in the second quarter before sustaining its attack up to the end.
After improving to 5-6 and catching San Miguel Beer and NLEX at eighth-running spot, the Hotshots still need to prevail over Meralco at eliminations' end on Friday to at least play off for the last quarterfinals berth.
Victolero credited his players for working on the kinks in their game, especially making stops, during their 10-day break following a 110-104 win over Phoenix.
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"That's our calling card, defense. We're backs-against-the-wall, we're in a do-or-die situation, so we go to our strength, which is our defense," Victolero pointed out.
"We kept on doing that, we kept on practicing, we want to clean up everything du'n sa mistakes namin, sa mga kulang namin. 'Yung break namin magandang nangyari sa amin. We cleaned up everything.
"The goal is to survive. Now we live another day and we will try to prepare again for our next game."
The loss should prove costly for Eastern in its bid to get a top two finish. Now with a 7-4 record, the guest team needs to prevail over NLEX on Wednesday to fan its hope of forging a tie for No. 2 that carries with it a twice-to-beat advantage in the next round.
The Hong Kong-based team must learn from the lessons Magnolia gave it that limited the former to just a 31-of-70 field shooting, harassed into committing 21 turnovers, and being terribly outrebounded 39-52.
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Offense was hardly a problem for the Hotshots, with relievers Jerom Lastimosa and Zavier Lucero each scoring 20 to lead their whopping 53-24 advantage in bench points.
Chris McLaughlin had his own double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, but his fellow starters in Hayden Blankley and Ramon Cao could only combine for 18 points. (NC)
The Scores :
MAGNOLIA 107 - Ratliffe 25, Lastimosa 20, Lucero 20, Sangalang 14, Barroca 11, Dela Rosa 8, Abueva 5, Alfaro 4, Lee 0, Dionisio 0, Laput 0.
EASTERN 78 - McLaughlin 20, Yang 14, Lam 13, Cao 9, Blankley 9, Guinchard 4, Cheung 3, Pok 3, Chan 2, Zhu 1, Xu 0.
QUARTERS 24-19, 50-31, 78-56, 107-78
