MANILA, Philippines — The Magnolia Hotshots’ dominant run in the PBA Philippine Cup continues.
Magnolia blasted the Terrafirma Dyip by 33 points, 127-94, in their All-Filipino conference matchup Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Magnolia now won five straight games in the conference while sending the lowly Dyip to their fourth straight defeat.
Zav Lucero powered Magnolia with a near double-double of 17 points and nine rebounds, while Paul Lee added 13 points. Jerrick Ahanmisi and Joseph Eriobu had 11 markers apiece for the Hotshots.
All 15 players who saw floor time for the Hotshots made at least a field goal.
Terrafirma was trailing by just two, 25-27, at the end of the first quarter.
But a massive 38-7 Magnolia run, capped by an Ian Sangalang jumper, broke the game wide open, 65-32, in the second quarter.
Terrafirma could not recover from the huge deficit, only managing to slice the deficit to 24, 74-98, after a Stanley Pringle 3-pointer, as Magnolia breezed through to the finish line.
James Laput added nine points for the Hotshots, while Jerom Lastimosa, Sangalang, Rome dela Rosa, Jerick Balanza and Calvin Abueva had eight apiece.
Louie Sangalang powered Terrafirma with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, while Pringle and Kevin Ferrer had 17 points each.
“Yes, we’re happy we have a good start compared to the last two conferences. But we’re still far from our goal and we just need to keep working hard every time we prepare for a game,” Victolero said.
“I’m very happy that everybody stepped up. Everybody contributed.”
Magnolia will be back in action next Sunday against the NLEX Road Warriors, while the Dyip will take on the TNT Tropang 5G on Friday.