Michael Harris led the injury-hobbled Magnolia Hotshots to a 112-109 triumph over the NLEX Road Warriors Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Road Warriors could have taken the lead and won the game in the last 32 seconds of their game in the 2022 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup.
But Matt Nieto bungled three charity attempts, allowing Harris to step forward and score the winning basket with his driving layup in the last 12 seconds.
Two more chances came the Road Warriors’ way in the remaining time, but efforts to force an extra period went for naught, as triples from Don Trollano and Kj McDaniel missed their marks.
“It’s all about effort. We had a bad start. But our second group saved us today,” said Hotshots’ coach Chito Victolero.
Struggling without three injured players throughout the game, the Hotshots lifted themselves out of 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Aries Dionisio capped a 15-4 blast which the Hotshots took at the start of the last period to force two deadlocks.
Harris finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds for Magnolia, which extended its unbeaten run to five and stayed in the solo lead.
The Road Warriors stayed in third with the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters, with both sharing the same 4-2 cards.
McDaniel fired 35 points and had 13 rebounds for the Road Warriors.
Calvin Abueva and Rome de la Rosa were out due to injuries and did not see action for the Hotshots. Peter Atencio