MANILA – Magnolia Hotshots moved closer to dethroning Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings after a 101-97 win in Game 2 of their 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal round on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Romeo Travis flirted with near triple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists) while Ian Sangalang and Paul Lee added 17 and 14 points, respectively, for the Hotshots.
The Hotshots can march to the championship round for the first time since ruling the 2014 edition of the Governors’ Cup with a win over the two-time defending champions Kings on Wednesday.
Magnolia opened the match with 5 straight points from Lee and Travis but Ginebra kept it close and even took a 14-12 lead on a Justin Brownlee hit. Baskets from Sangalang and Jio Jalalon let the Hotshots lead anew 21-18.
Continuing their run in the second quarter, the Hotshots headed to a 34-22 advantage on shots from Jalalon and Sangalang. The Kings then made a late run behind Brownlee to come to within 46-47 at the half.
Inside hits from Sangalang and Travis early in the third allowed the Hotshots to create separation anew with a 55-50 lead.
After the Kings tied the count at 59-all, the Hotshots pulled away anew 75-68 on 5 straight points from Rome dela Rosa.
At the onset of the fourth period shots from Sangalang and Travis let the Hotshots post their largest lead in the game 93-81. The Kings made a run to come to within 97-99 after an LA Tenorio trey.
After a split free throw by Lee, the Kings had two opportunities to equalize but Tenorio and Brownlee misfired in their 3-point attempts. Travis sealed the victory for Magnolia by making one successful free throw out of four tries.
Brownlee paced the Kings with 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Tenorio and Japeth Aguilar had 15 points each, while Slaughter contributed 14 markers./PN
