MANILA – Magnolia Hotshots recovered from a poor start to score a 106-98 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 1 of their 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-five semifinal game on Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Romeo Travis led the way with double-double 37 points and 16 rebounds, while Paul Lee and Justin Melton contributed 27 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Hotshots.
The Kings had a strong start in the match for an early 12-point advantage but the Hotshots slowly clawed their way up behind Melton, Lee and Travis to come to within 31-39.
The Hotshots continued their run in the second period to take a 42-41 lead on a 3-point play by Lee before pulling away 63-55 at the half on baskets from Andy Mark Barroca and Melton.
Magnolia went on to build their largest lead 79-65 on consecutive inside shots from Travis. Ginebra cut the deficit to 9 but the Hotshots got a triple from Travis for an 89-76 lead.
The Kings came up with a strong push early in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit 91-93 but the Hotshots made timely hits courtesy of Lee and Travis to stretch the lead back to 10 points.
“It’s nice to be back in the semis,” said Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero. “But we have a big task ahead of us. Obviously, we’re the underdog in this series against the defending champions, but nothing is impossible.”
Justin Brownlee finished with near-triple-double of 37 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, while Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio added 18 and 13 points, respectively, for the Hotshots./PN
