MANILA – Magnolia Hotshots halted their three-game slide in the 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup with a come-from-behind 102-92 victory over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings at the AUF Sports Arena and Cultural Center in Pampanga last night.
Jackson Corpuz spearheaded the offense with conference-best 20 points while Paul Lee and Andy Mark Barroca added 15 markers each as the Hotshots improved to a 2-4 win-loss slate.
Ian Sangalang, Rome dela Rosa and Chris Banchero also finished with double-figures 14, 13 and 10 markers respectively while Jiovani Jalalon contributed nine points and 10 assists for Magnolia.
Down by as much as 10 points at 75-65 after a triple by Kings’ Jeffrei Chan in the third period, the Hotshots went on a 13-2 rally behind Lee, Sangalang and Rafael Reavis to take a 78-77 advantage.
Magnolia remained on top at 86-81, but the Kings came as close as 87-89 before the Hotshots pulled away with three-point conversions from Barroca and Lee followed by inside shots from Reavis and Sangalang for its biggest edge of 102-92.
Stanley Pringle finished the match with 24 points, Japeth Aguilar chipped in 15 markers while Earl Scottie Thompson contributed 10 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists as the Kings suffered their first defeat in five matches.
Meanwhile, the supposed first game pitting the Blackwater Elite and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters was postponed by PBA commissioner Willie Marcial as one of the Elite players became a suspected coronavirus case.
In a press conference last night, Marcial said the unnamed Elite player was already negative for the virus based on the antigen test, but will still wait for the result of his swab test to formally clear his status.
Marcial furthered that the swab test result of the Elite player will be the league’s basis if they will push through with the TNT Tropang Giga-NorthPort Batang Pier match tonight.
Tropang Giga was the Elite’s last match before one of their players was tested for COVID-19 on Saturday evening. The players of the two teams are currently in isolation.
BOX SCORE:
MAGNOLIA 102 – Corpuz 20, Barroca 15, Lee 15, Sangalang 14, Dela Rosa 13, Banchero 10, Jalalon 9, Reavis 6, Dionisio 0, Melton 0, Calisaan 0, Pascual 0.
GINEBRA 92 – Pringle 24, J. Aguilar 15, Thompson 10, Dillinger 9, Chan 9, Caperal 8, Tolentino 6, Tenorio 6, Mariano 4, Devance 3.
QUARTERSCORES:
Q1, 25-25; Q2, 52-54; Q3, 78-77; Q4, 102-92./PN
