MANILA, Philippines – Second seed Magnolia booked an early semifinal passage on a stirring come-from-behind 86-79 win over GlobalPort in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday.
Mark Barroca, Paul Lee, Marc Pingris and Ian Sangalang led the way as the Hotshots overcame a poor start and an early 20-point deficit to deliver the knockout blow on the Batang Pier.
The Hotshots employed an efficient defense, holding the Batang Pier to 53 points in the last three quarters after exploding for 26 in the opening canto.
Probably adding to GlobalPort’s downfall was the ugly verbal tussle between coach Pido Jarencio and ace player Terrence Romeo after the Hotshots had taken the lead at 54-53 with three minutes left in the third quarter.