Monday, July 14, 2008 Magnolia clobbers Coca Cola, 108-96
MANILA What was expected to be a down-the-wire battle turned into a lopsided affair for the Magnolia Beverage Masters as they clobbered Coca-Cola Tigers, 108-96, yesterday to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three quarterfinal round of the 2008 Smart-PBA Fiesta Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The Beverage Masters displayed deadly firepower with import Amal McCaskill, Lordy Tugade, Mike Cortez, Danny Ildefonso and Dondon Hotiveros scoring in double digits.
The five combined for a big 84 points, which is more than half of Magnolia’s total production and 10 of 12 fielded by coach Jong Uichico made it to the scoring chart.
In contrast, the Tigers had to rely heavily on the local players with the very poor performances of their twin imports and only 8 of 12 used by coach Benky Favis scored.
The Beverage Masters will go for a sweep of the short series on Wednesday to earn the right to face Air 21 in the best-of-seven semifinals showdown.
Top scorers
Barangay Ginebra and Sta. Lucia Realty were the other quarterfinalists still disputing at press time, and the winner between them will face Red Bull in the other semis match.
McCaskill and Tugade shared the top scorers’ honor for Magnolia with 20 points apiece, while Cortez added 18. Ildefonso and Hontiveros had 13 each.
Asi Taulava led the Tigers with 20 points, while Nic Belasco and Ron Buenafe had 17 and 15, respectively.
The Beverage Masters surged to an early 30-18 lead, courtesy of the 6-foot-10 McCaskill, who fired nine, while Tugade added 5. Ildefonso and Honiveros also had four in that stretch.
However, Coca-Cola refused to bow easily and fought back with a quick 7-0 run that cut down the deficit to only five points, 25-30.
But Ken Bono came in and flashed his old deadly collegiate form with back-to-back jumpers to stretch Magnolia’s lead to, 34-25, still 8:40 remaining in the second period.
Despite the Tigers’ effort to move closer, Cortez and Hontiveos retaliated with a triple each to maintain the 10-point gap, 51-41, at the end of the half.
What really hurt the Tigers’ offense was the continued slump of their twin imports Brandon Dean and Jason Dixon, who failed to score a single point in the first two periods. Dixon settled for 6 points in the match.
Even Coca-Cola’s new import, the six-foot Dean, who replaced Donald Copeland, managed only three points in the first half and five in the final canto, forcing coach Benky Favis to rely heavily on Buenafe, Taulava and Alex Cabagnot.
