Hotshots stay in playoff bonus hunt after derailing Road Warriors
Magnolia got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Zavier Lucero in a 98-82 win over NLEX on Sunday in the PBA Philippine Cup, and the Hotshots fanned their hopes of tabbing a twice-to-beat bonus in the playoffs after catching the Road Warriors at third spot.
Coming off his career game in a loss just a few nights ago, Lucero got a lot of help this time as the Hotshots rose to 6-3, just a full game off the pace with Rain or Shine and Converge disputing top-ranking at press time.
“NLEX is at the top of the standings for a reason,” the 6-foot-7 Lucero, who scored 31 points in a loss to the FiberXers last week, said. “We certainly didn’t take them lightly. We knew they were going to make their run, so we just did our best to execute on both ends.
“We’re playing for something bigger than just making the playoffs, so we just came in focused,” Lucero went on as he and the Hotshots travel to Bahrain for a clash with the Elasto Painters on Monday next week at Khalifa Sports City Stadium.
Rookie Chris Koon and James Laput tossed in 11 each for the Hotshots, who drew 14 points from Rome dela Rosa and 12 from Mark Barroca.
The Hotshots played with sustained intensity this time, unlike in the Converge match where a sputtering finish resulted in a 114-97 drubbing.
“I reminded the boys that this time, we (should have) learned our lesson from our last game,” rookie coach LA Tenorio said. “We had a good start against Converge but we didn’t sustain that in the second half.”
The Road Warriors know that they flubbed a golden chance to snare a playoff bonus, as Robert Bolick will be leaving the team on Dec. 11 to join the Gilas Pilipinas crew that will defend the Southeast Asian Games gold medal in Thailand.
Bolick struggled to just 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting, and the Road Warriors were practically out of it as early as the end of the third period when they trailed, 70-52.
