Blackwater outmuscled Magnolia down the stretch to earn a hard-fought 104-99 victory in overtime and snap its two-game losing skid in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.
In his best game this conference, Roi Sumang came off the bench to spark Blackwater, dropping a team-high 19 points and six assists and coming through in the clutch to make his presence felt.
Sumang waxed hot when it mattered the most in crunch time to carry the fight for the Elite.
A pivotal 7-0 run, all from Sumang’s hot hands, in the middle of overtime did the trick for Blackwater.
His triple with 2:23 remaining gave Blackwater a key 94-87 advantage.
That’s all it took for the Elite to finally take down the stubborn Hotshots.
Blackwater improved to 6-3 as it moves to third and takes a step closer from securing a spot in the quarterfinals.
On the other hand, Magnolia saw its five-game winning streak halted, dropping to 5-3 in the process.
Mike Digregorio added 15 markets while new import Stephon Blair and Bobby Ray Parks Jr. provided more support, scoring 14 points each for the Elite.
Blair added 14 rebounds as well, and Parks 10 as both registered double-doubles.
Paul Lee sent the game into overtime after squaring the score at 84-all with 9.4 seconds remaining in regulation after getting fouled.
Prior to that, the Elite held an 84-80 lead before the Hotshots scored the last four points in the fourth to force an extention.
The battling foes went toe-to-toe through the first three quarters as neither wanted to give any ground.
The teams were dead even at 61-all entering the payoff period.
Magnolia was led by James Farr’s 23 points and 20 rebounds in the losing cause.