The Phone Pals played efficiently on both ends of the court at crunchtime and pulled off an 85-76 win over the Rhum Masters last night in a key followup to their 76-73 decision over the Purefoods Hotdogs Sunday that had the team closing in on the tournament leaders.
With its first back-to-back wins in the conference, Mobiline moved within two and a half games of Red Bull, San Miguel and Shell and only a game behind Alaska, Pop Cola and Ginebra at 4-5.
And with the team making it two-in-a-row in the absence of main man Victor Pablo, Mobiline coach Louie Alas appeared more confident of making it past the elimination round and might even have a good shot at the Magic Four which guarantees twice-to-beat incentive in the quarters.
"Nasa gitna na kami at medyo dikit-dikit pa rin naman lahat ng team. Tingin ko malaki pa ang laban namin sa twice-to-beat," said Alas.