Magnolia capitalizes on Almazan injury, Hodge ejection for 2-0 semis lead

The Magnolia Hotshots once again emerged on the winning side of yet another physical slugfest against the Meralco Bolts with a 92-78 Game 2 win in the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals at the DHVSU Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga on Wednesday, October 6.

Super scorer Paul Lee continued his hot streak despite a low-scoring first quarter from both teams, and finished with a game-high 28 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three.

“Pinatubo Trio” stalwarts Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva did the dirty work anew for the Hotshots, as the former tallied a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, while the latter churned out 11 markers and 11 boards off the bench.

Both men practically got free rein on the boards in the second half after Meralco beanpole Raymond Almazan went down with an apparent left ankle tweak off a routine rebound battle with 8:10 left in the third quarter.

Things only got worse for the Bolts from there on as veteran forward Cliff Hodge, who got a technical foul in the first half, got ejected off his second tech coupled with a flagrant one whistle after a second motion hit on Abueva at the 1:22 mark of the period.

Those consecutive key losses proved too much for Meralco to handle as Magnolia jumped to a 12-point lead, 79-67, midway through the final frame coming off a small 64-58 gap at the start, and never looked back.

“Pinaghandaan naming lahat ng puwede nilang gawing options, especially on defense, kasi alam naman namin na this is a defensive battle,” said head coach Chito Victolero in the postgame presser.

“Halos lahat naman ng player ng Meralco, nagko-contribute, so wala kaming pwedeng piliin. Talagang 10 to 12 players, nagko-contribute. So it’s a team effort na ginawa namin.”

(We prepared for all possible options they have, especially on defense, because we know it’s a defensive battle. Almost everyone in Meralco contributes, so we can’t single out anyone. They get contributions from 10 to 12 players. So we responded with team effort.)

Chris Newsome led Meralco’s usual balanced attack with a team-high 18 points and a game-best 7 assists to go with 4 rebounds and an 8-of-9 clip from the free-throw line.

Lead guard Nard Pinto and ageless ace Reynel Hugnatan added 12 markers each, while Almazan and Hodge were held to just 6 and 3 points, respectively, in about 17 minutes of floor time apiece.

The Hotshots will try to move one game away from the finals on Friday, October 8, 3 pm, while the Bolts aim to regain their spark with a much-needed Game 3 win.