Magnolia’s Lucero notches third PBA Player of the Week citation

MANILA, Philippines — In Zav Lucero, Magnolia has a high-energy, dependable guy who’s ready to knock down baskets, attack the boards, defend, and fight for possession day in and day out.

Lucero’s value was very much evident when the Hotshots, reeling from a two-game slide, needed a pivotal victory against TNT to secure a coveted Top Four seeding in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs.

A loss would’ve been catastrophic for Magnolia would drop out of the “Magic 4” and instead enter the quarterfinals with a twice-to-win disadvantage.

With much at stake, Lucero stepped up yet again to fire 24 points on a 64% field goal (9-of-13), adding eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one block as Magnolia got the job done, 88-83, to finish at 8-3 for third seed.

The athletic forward capped his heroics with an eight-point tally in the fourth, including four free throws in the dying seconds that extinguished the late threat of the Tropang 5G (6-5), who would turn out to be their Last-8 opponent, being the sixth-ranked squad.

Such strong performance in a high-pressure game earned for the 6-foot-6 Filipino-American the honor as the PBA Press Corps-Pilipinas Live Player of the Week for June 11 to 15.

It was Lucero’s third time overall to win the weekly citation in Season 49 as he matched the hat-trick of accolades first accomplished by TNT’s Calvin Oftana.

Lucero edged the likes of Barangay Ginebra’s Stephen Holt and San Miguel Beer’s Cjay Perez, who powered their respective teams to the win-once quarterfinal bonus clinchers, and Phoenix’s Jason Perkins, who carved a career-high 39 in powering the eliminated Fuel Masters to a closing 124-109 romp of Blackwater.