Magnolia didn’t have to look far to find the best reason to win Friday night. This bothered them during the holidays.
After losing five of their first seven games and with their playoff hopes beginning to fade, the Hotshots pulled out all the stops at Ninoy Aquino Stadium to knock back Terrafirma, 89-84, and stay somewhat afloat in surpassing the PBA playoff phase. Commissioner’s cut.
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“Everyone could see how our (past) matches went. We lost a lot of tough moments,” said Zav Lucero, whose 17 points and scoring free throws near the end helped the struggling team earn a well-deserved victory to improve to 3-5. “We have to win games, no better fuel than that.
“It’s either we win or we go home, pretty much.”
“The credit (goes) to the players. There was pressure, but they were there to execute on both ends of the court,” added coach Chito Victolero, whose players were still licking the wounds from a heartbreak against Barangay Ginebra on Christmas Day last.
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Lucero put the finishing touches on the strong start of import Ricardo Ratliffe, who Victolero said was finally playing in peak form after fully recovering from a shoulder problem he suffered in the defeat Magnolia’s close match against Converge on December 1st.
The Magnolia backup delivered 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Lucero, Ian Sangalang and Jerom Lastimosa provided valuable support with double-digit outputs that helped the Hotshots prevail even without star shooter Paul Lee , who was absent due to a knee (meniscus). ) issue.
“No excuses”
“Really, it’s easy to play with him. So I’m just trying to find my opportunities around him and the rest of the guys as well,” Lucero said of their American-South Korean import.
“(It was) ‘no excuses’ for Ricardo. The medical staff did a good job treating his injury,” Victolero said. “Right now I think he’s 100 percent and that’s good for us.”
Stanley Pringle led the way for Terrafirma with 22 points, while imports Brandon Edwards and Kevin Ferrer added 14 and 11 respectively, as the Dyip fell to their ninth defeat, officially dashing any chance of progressing to the next round.
Former scoring champion Terrence Romeo finally played his first game as a league doormat, but was only able to score three points in nearly 14 minutes.
Victolero said Lee should be cleared on January 16 at the earliest, but that could be moved to the 26th when his team faces visiting team Hong Kong Eastern.
That also means the crafty scorer won’t be available when Magnolia faces sibling San Miguel, which at 3-4 remains barely outside the playoff qualification threshold.
“It’s going to be a battle. Both teams must win,” said Victolero. “They’re also in the middle, so it’s going to be a dogfight on Sunday.”
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Meanwhile, sister teams Meralco and NLEX were battling it out at press time, with the Bolts trying to stay in the middle of the pack.
The Road Warriors, meanwhile, entered the match with a three-game losing streak and would need to win one just to stay in the circle of teams that will advance this round.
