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Magnolia didn’t need to look too far for the perfect reason to win on Friday night. It has been bugging them throughout the vacations.
After losing five of their first seven games and with their playoff hopes beginning to dim, the Hotshots pulled out all of the stops at Ninoy Aquino Stadium to show back Terrafirma, 89-84, and stay somewhat afloat in advancing past the elimination phase of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
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“Everyone could see how our [past] games have turned out. We’ve lost a variety of tough ones,” said Zav Lucero, whose 17 points and clutch free throws near the tip helped tow the struggling powerhouse to a much-needed win to enhance to 3-5. “We’ve got to win games—no more higher fuel than that.
“It’s either we win or go home, just about so.”
“Credit [goes] to the players. There’s been pressure, but they were there to execute on each ends of the ground,” added coach Chito Victolero, whose charges were still licking the injuries from a heartbreaker against Barangay Ginebra last Christmas Day.
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Lucero put the ending touches on the recent start of import Ricardo Ratliffe, who, in keeping with Victolero, was finally playing at optimal form after fully recovering from a shoulder problem he sustained in Magnolia’s narrow loss to Converge last Dec. 1.
The Magnolia reinforcement delivered 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, as Lucero, Ian Sangalang and Jerom Lastimosa gave him invaluable support with twin-digit outputs that helped the Hotshots prevail even without star gunner Paul Lee, who sat it out as a result of a knee (meniscus) issue.
‘No excuses’
“Really, it’s easy to play with him. So I just try to seek out my opportunities around him and the remaining of the blokes as well,” Lucero said of their American-South Korean import.
“[It was] ‘no excuses’ for Ricardo. The medical staff had been doing job handling his injury,” Victolero said. “Immediately, I believe he’s one hundred pc and that’s good for us.”
Stanley Pringle led the best way for Terrafirma with 22 points, while import Brandon Edwards and Kevin Ferrer added 14 and 11, respectively, because the Dyip dropped to their ninth loss, officially snuffing out any probabilities of advancing to the subsequent round.
Former scoring champion Terrence Romeo finally played his first game with the league doormat but was only in a position to chip in three points in nearly 14 minutes.
Victolero said that Lee is anticipated to be cleared on Jan. 16 on the earliest, but that might be moved to the twenty sixth when his crew plays guest squad Hong Kong Eastern.
That also means the crafty scorer won’t be available when Magnolia takes on corporate sibling San Miguel, which at 3-4 stays only a shade outside of the qualifying threshold for the playoffs.
“It’s gonna be a battle. Each teams must win,” Victolero said. “They’re also in the center, so it’s going to be a dogfight on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, sister squads Meralco and NLEX were battling it out at press time, with the Bolts attempting to stay in the midst of the pack.
The Road Warriors, however, got here into the sport with a three-game losing streak and would want to win one just to remain contained in the circle of teams that may make it past this round.
