MANILA – NLEX Road Warriors avoided a massive meltdown to pull off a 90-77 victory over Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots in Game 2 of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals last night at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan.
Comfortably ahead by 26 points in the third quarter, the Road Warriors were stunned by a huge uprising by the Hotshots as they trimmed the deficit to 66-75 with 10 minutes left in the fourth period.
The Road Warriors restored order with two free throws and a triple by Anthony Semerad. A conversion each from JR Quiñahan and Kevin Alas widened the lead to 88-68.
The Hotshots made a last push at 74-88 via back-to-back shots from Aris Dionisio and Calvin Abueva but an outside basket from Quiñahan sealed the win for the Road Warriors.
Alas finished the game with career-high 30 points to go with nine rebounds, while Calvin Oftana added 10 markers as the Road Warriors tied the best-of-three quarterfinals series at 1-1.
Abueva ended with 20 points. Paul Lee added 12 markers, while Dionisio and Ian Sangalang contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Hotshots.
In the first game, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings also forced a rubber match in their quarterfinals series with Meralco Bolts after a 94-87 Game 2 win.
Clinging to an 81-83 lead, the Kings got timely conversions from LA Tenorio, Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar to widen the lead to 89-82 with over a minute left.
The Bolts made its last push at 84-89 on two free throws by Clifford Hodge but a baseline layup and a three-pointer by Stanley Pringle stretched the Kings’ lead to 94-86.
Aguilar finished with 25 points, Standhardinger had 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, while Tenorio and Earl Scottie Thompson had 13 and 11, respectively, for the Kings.
BOX SCORE:
NLEX 90 — Alas 30, Oftana 10, Semerad 9, Varilla 8, Trollano 8, Quiñahan 8, Chua 6, Nieto 6, Miranda 3, Rosales 2, Paniamogan 0, Ighalo 0.
MAGNOLIA 77 — Abueva 20, Lee 12, Dionisio 11, Sangalang 10, Jalalon 7, Barroca 4, Reavis 4, Dela Rosa 4, Wong 3, Corpuz 2, Escoto 0, Ahanmisi 0, Brill 0, Zaldivar 0.
Quarterscores: 25-18, 55-32, 73-59, 90-77./PN
