MANILA- Magnolia escaped a late scare from TNT and walked away victorious, 92-88, in Game 2 of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal tie at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Friday night. Just when the Hotshots thought their much-improved defense on the Tropang Giga compared to Game 1 was enough to force a 1-all deadlock in their best-of-seven series, the latter came alive in the fourth quarter and even came just close to at least forcing overtime. Magnolia's defense held its ground on TNT in the first half, holding them to just 12 points in the first quarter and 29 in total. "It's all about team effort and defense," Coach Chito Victolero said. "Ang sabi ko lang naman sa kanila (I just told them), 'We need to go back to our defensive mindset.' Kaya kami nandito because of that." As the offense began to pick up in the second half, the Hotshots remained solid and even waxed hot to open the fourth quarter as eight straight points stretched their
MANILA - Gilas Pilipinas' stint in the FIBA Asia Cup came to an end Tuesday night after Japan knocked them out with a 102-81 win in their playoff first-round encounter at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta. Even with National Basketball Association player Yuta Watanabe exiting the game in the third quarter after an ankle injury, Japan played like a team on a mission as the "Akatsuki Five" scored its most significant win over the Filipinos, at least in recent memory, to set a quarterfinal date with Australia on Thursday night. A far cry from how both teams would start their clash at least in the past 12 years, Japan shocked Gilas and raced to a 32-16 lead at the end of the first quarter even as the former sustained its good start in the second quarter. Gilas thought it could capitalize on the absence of Watanabe, who had to be taken out of the arena on a wheelchair due to a grimacing pain in his ankle, but Japan's three-point shooting was on point to counter Gilas' outs
MANILA - The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards denied the All-Star Bacolod Ballers a giant slaying to begin their two-game home stand as the former prevailed, 81-74, in a Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League triple-overtime thriller that ended just past midnight on Tuesday at the University of St. La Salle Gym in Bacolod City. Despite a solid defensive performance, Bacolod failed to close out Nueva Ecija, and the latter got its offensive game in the overtime sessions to take the road win. Entering the game averaging a league best 94.3 points, Nueva Ecija, playing without suspended coach Jerson Cabiltes, was held to just 49 points with 31.1 seconds left in regulation as Bacolod was on track of scoring a huge upset to the delight of its sold-out crowd. However, Alwyn Alday clipped Byron Villarias while taking a three-pointer, and the latter made all his three free throws to force the first overtime session. In the first overtime, the Rice Vanguards appeared to be pulling away after answering E
MANILA - Wangs-Letran escaped a late push from Adalem-St. Clare to score a 94-87 win at the start of the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. In the battle pitting the top teams of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (NAASCU), the NCAA champions prevailed despite the NAASCU rulers nearly pulling off a comeback from 23 points down. The Knights quickly stomped their dominance on the Saints, opening a 43-20 lead with 7:59 left in the first half. However, Adalem-St. Clare slowly chipped away the lead and was just within three, 85-88, with 59 seconds left in the game. King Caralipio finally sealed Wangs-Letran's win with a dagger triple with 47 seconds remaining. Louie Sangalang made 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks for the Knights, while Caralipio, Tommy Olivario, and Brent Paraiso each added 12 markers. John Rojas made 25 poin
NorthPort's Arwind Santos is now a member of PBA's 10,000 Points Club. (Photo courtesy of PBA Image) MANILA - San Miguel broke loose in the fourth quarter to clip NorthPort, 122-106, in their Philippine Cup battle on Saturday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Beermen spoiled Arwind Santos' formal entry to the elite 10,000 Points Club as they clobbered the Batang Pier in the endgame after a close encounter in the first 36 minutes of the game. Needing only 13 points to break the 10,000-point barrier, Santos scored on a jumper with 11:24 left in the third quarter, his 14th in the contest, to become only the 17th member of the elite scoring group and the only one among the active players this PBA Philippine Cup. However, SMB still had the last laugh after outscoring NorthPort, 40-24, in the final period to pull away for good. June Mar Fajardo and Robbie Herndon each scored 21 points to lead the Beermen, who are once again solo first placers in the team sta