MAGNOLIA DOWNS COCA-COLA, MOVES INTO A TIE FOR 3RD

The Magnolia Beverage Masters have agreed on taking the homestretch of the elimination round not a game, but a play at a time.

They had their reward as they gutted it out from start to finish against the Coca-Cola Tigers.

Magnolia beat out Coca-Cola in a defensive battle, pulling off an 81-77 victory that enhanced its bid for an outright semifinal entry in the 2008 Smart PBA Fiesta Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome Friday night.

The Beverage Masters held the Tigers scoreless in the final 1:15 of play and went to Marc Pingris and Lordy Tugade for the insurance free throws as they caught up with Coca-Cola at third place with similar 9-7 win-loss cards.

"As I expected, defense turned out to be the key. We choked them with our defense," said Magnolia coach Siot Tanquingcen.

"This is a good win for us but we still have yet to achieve anything. We’re up next against Air21 and we’re not looking beyond that game. We’re taking it one play at a time. Mahirap madapa, everyone’s bunched together in the standings," Tanquingcen added.

With Amal McCaskill focusing on his defensive job against Coca-Cola counterpart Jason Dixon, the Magnolia locals took charge offensively with Lordy Tugade leading the way, firing nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Tugade scored all but one of San Miguel’s last seven points, including a tip-in off a Danny Ildefonso miss that pushed Magnolia ahead to stay at 78-76.

Dixon, who endured a busted nose suffered early in the third quarter, canned in a charity with 1:15 left and the Tigers went scoreless the rest of the way.

The final minute saw McCaskill block a shot by Dixon, Asi Taulava commit a passing error and Ronjay Buenafe and Alex Cabagnot miss a three-point shot each.

Tugade settled the outcome of the game with two charities making it 81-77 with time down to 8.1 seconds.

The two teams put tremendous defensive pressure from the beginning, limiting each other’s shooting below 40 percent in the first half.

Magnolia held Coca-Cola to eight points in the second quarter and took the turn at 32-27.

Though Dixon sat out a few minutes in the third quarter, the Tigers engaged the Beverage Masters in a nip-and-tuck battle, hitting heavily from afar.

Cesar Catli converted four of five three-point attempts with Donald Copeland, Alex Cabagnot and Nic Belasco adding a triple each in the period. (NC)

The scores:

Magnolia 81 – Tugade 14, Pena 13, McCaskill 12, Ildefonso 11, Pingris 10, Seigle 9, Racela 5, Cortez 2, Villanueva 0.

Coca-Cola 77 – Catli 17, Dixon 15, Taulava 15, Cabagnot 12, Copeland 9, Buenafe 6, Belasco 3, Calimag 0, Arigo 0, Telan 0.

Quarterscores: 17-19, 32-27, 59-58, 81-77.