Magnolia def Terrafirma, 121-115 [PBA S47 Govs’ Cup | Mar. 4, 2023]

Magnolia crawled out of a 15-point deficit late in regulations and roared on in overtime, thwarting Terrafirma, 121-115, to stay in the fight for the Top 4 in the PBA Governors’ Cup elims at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig Saturday.

The Hotshots were still down by 10 in the last two minutes, but refused to quit, willing themselves to force overtime where they asserted themselves to extend their streak to 15 games in head-on battles with the Dyip.

“We had a bad game, hindi kami maka-execute on both ends of the floor, but because of heart and will, nagawa namin i-overtime. At noong dumating ang chance, they’re veterans enough to know the situation. We executed better in the last five minutes,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.

“We took it one possession at a time in weathering the storm and in taking stand together, that was it,” said import Antonio Hester.

As they gutted it out in the crunch, one play that proved to be the game-changer was Adrian Wong’s steal off Jordan Williams that set up Hester to send the game into extra time at 110-110.

And with the opportunity to steal the game opening up, the Hotshots pounced on it and thus stayed in the race for the Top 4 at 6-4.

With their sixth win in their last seven games, Hester and his teammates pulled even again with the Meralco Bolts at fifth place, with a chance to catch up with of at least three teams in the Top 4 in San Miguel Beer (7-2), Barangay Ginebra (6-2) and NLEX (7-3).