HONTIVEROS BAILS MAGNOLIA IN ENDGAME

Beverage Masters gain share of lead in come-from-behind win over SLR
Philippine Basketball Association website
Sunday, 21 October 2007

For 27 minutes Dondon Hontiveros practically struggled with his shots. But he once he got it going, the veteran swingman turned the fourth quarter into a shooting clinic as the Magnolia Beverage Masters took the game away from the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the closing minutes, 101-96, Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Hontiveros knocked in 14 points in the fourth quarter on a 5-for-5 shooting including two jolting threes as he almost single-handedly rallied the Beverage Masters from the brink of defeat and kept Magnolia unbeaten after two games in the Smart PBA Philippine Cup.

It was another frustrating night for the Realtors, who seemed to have a lock on the game with Realtors ahead, 87-81, midway in the fourth.

Hontiveros picked up his offensively flow with 5:44 remaining after drilling two 3-pointers that touched off a 12-7 run that pulled the Magnolia within one.

Sta. Lucia rookie Ryan Reyes, who has been showing a lot of promise, sank two free throws to stretch Sta. Lucia's lead to 96-93 with 2:12 to go.

Both teams then traded missed shots before Seigle scored on an assist by Hontiveros, who then nailed four straight points that put Magnolia ahead for good, 99-96, with 26 seconds remaining.

Seigle and Hontiveros shared scoring honors with 18 points with the latter adding eight assists, six rebounds and four steals.

"The moment I get my rhythm things just fell into place," said Honotiveros, who managed just four points after the first three quarters.

Magnolia coach Siot Tanquingcen said the new rules somehow affected his shooters.

"It (new rules) affected them. The contacts allowed by game officials obviously bothered the shooters’ rhythm," Tanquingcen said.

The Realtors who picked up their second straight loss were doing alright for most part of the game but largely because big man Marlou Aquino flashed some his deadly form.

Aquino scored 19 points on a 7-of-10 shooting and his mere presence in the lane was a distraction to the Beverage Masters.

Surprisingly, Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez pulled Aquino out of the game with 6:50 left in the game and the Realtors ahead 87-81 and the Beverage Masters capitalized in his absence.

Joseph Yeo led Sta. Lucia with a career-high 24 points including 11 in the third to bring the Realtors back into the game.

Dennis Espino, the other half of Sta. Lucia's ‘Twin Towers,’ contributed 12 points but was just 2-of-6 from the line in the fourth, missing four straight charities in the final three minutes that could have prevented the team's downfall.

Meanwhile, PBA Officer-in-Charge Sonny Barrios has summoned Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao at 11 o’clock Monday morning to hear his side on an incident involving Guiao and Perry Martinez, the league technical committee head.

Guiao had walked across the court moments after his team absorbed a 95-102 decision against the Ginebra Kings last Friday and confronted Martinez.

Barrios declined to say whether any sanction on Guiao is forthcoming.

In the aftermath of the incident, Barrios said he will issue a memorandum to all the teams Monday, informing team officials of the present setup where Martinez no longer has any communication with the referees during games.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a supervisor of officials so I concurrently sit as OIC and supervisor of referees," Barrios said. "This means the only person who could address the referees during the game is me." (DBC)

The scores:
Magnolia 101 – Hontiveros 18, Seigle 18, Tugade 16, Racela 14, Villanueva R. 13, Ildefonso 12, Tenorio 4, Eman 2, Fonacier 2, Gonzales 2, Villanueva J. 0.
Sta. Lucia 96 – Yeo 24, Aquino 19, Espino 12, Williams 9, Miranda 9, Mendoza 9, Gonzales 5, Reyes 4, Omolon 3, Daa 2, Coronel 0.
Quarterscores: 28-25, 48-46, 76-71, 101-96