MANILA, Philippines: The real Magnolia Chicken Timplados finally showed up in a game that could make or break the team’s championship hopes in the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
With its back practically against the wall, the Hotshots leaned on their old fashioned choking defense to cool down the hot-shooting Beermen, 88-80 and cut SMB’s best-of-seven title series lead to 2-1 on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Magnolia import Tyler Bey sacrificed his offense by expending his energy on the defensive end, putting the clamps on his San Miguel counterpart Bennie Boatwright, who despite finishing with a game-high 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, shot horrendously from the floor in Game 3.
The former USC Trojan struggled with his three-point shooting after missing 9 of his 13 attempts, while making just 10-of-28 from the floor overall. The sweet-shooting American also had eight turnovers as he struggled playing against Magnolia’s airtight overall defense.
Bey had a quiet offense of just 11 points, his lowest in the PBA, along with just six rebounds, but Magnolia coach Chito Victolero didn’t mind.
“Tyler is also a very skilled player, very athletic, long and he’s quick and I Think he’s the best player assigned to (guard) Boatwright. Hopefully in our next game, he’ll be able to do the same thing, same job and same mentality on defense,” Victolero said after the game.
Victolero added that the two-day respite over the weekend gave the Hotshots enough time to rest their weary body after coming off a hard-fought quarterfinal against the Phoenix Fuel Masters last week.
“We had a hard time doing our defensive schemes because they (players) are all humans. They feel tired too, but the good thing is we have that rest and so we were able to get our defensive mentality back and hold out opponents to under 88 points,” he stressed.
Magnolia’s stuffing defense limited San Miguel to just 34.1 percent shooting.
The Beermen, a team loaded with three-point shooters, also fired blanks from three-point zone after making just 7-of-36 overall for a mere 19.4 percent clip.
The loss ended San Miguel’s long winning streak of 11 games, which tied the franchise-best.
It also marked the first time the Beermen lost with Boatwright as their import after 10 games.
Veteran guard Mark Barroca played with a big, fight heart after finishing with 20 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Paul Lee broke out of a two-game shooting slump to contribute 12 points, while Aris Dionisio provided the spark off the bench with 11 points, highlighted by three triples.
Ian Sangalang added 11, while Jio Jalalon had 10, seven boards and five assists.
CJ Perez added 16 points and managed to play through an ankle sprain after accidentally stepping on the foot of Jalalon early in the fourth period.