MANILA, Philippines — Magnolia squandered a 17-point lead but managed to recover late in the game to subdue Meralco, 95-89 to force a do-or-die match in their PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal pairing on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Hotshots led, 76-59 following a three-point shot by Javi Gomez De Liaño early in the final period.
From there, the Bolts mounted a furious 23-4 rally capped by a basket by Javie Nocom to give Meralco an 82-80 lead with 4:08 remaining.
Magnolia showed better composure from there via a 13-6 windup to deny the fourth-ranked, win-once Meralco side a chance to advance to the semis.
The do-or-die game is scheduled on Friday, following the path of defending champion and eighth seed TNT, which earlier in the day, escaped with a 96-93 win against no. 1 rank NLEX.
Clint Chapman, who hit a crucial three in Magnolia’s late-game spurt, scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Jerom Lastimosa added 17, Rome dela Rosa, while Ian Sangalang had 10 for the fourth seeded Hotshots.
Chris Newsome led the Bolts with 23 while import Marvin Jones was held down to just 16, in a foul-plagued performance that saw him just go 3-of-15 overall.