M’nolia surges ahead

Suffering a busted kisser on a wayward elbow by Dennis Espino, Magnolia wingman Dondon Hontiveros struck back with clutch baskets down the stretch, sending the Sta. Lucia Realtors home hurting more.

Hontiveros scored back-to-back jumpers right after being accidentally hit by Espino, and the Beverage Masters upended the Realtors, 101-96, for a second straight win in the 2007-08 Smart PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

“(The blow) was no big deal. It’s just that I was in the groove in the fourth quarter,” said Hontiveros, who went 5-of-5 from the field in the payoff period, leading Magnolia to a second win in a row following a 121-112 spanking of Air21 in the season opener.

The Realtors absorbed a second straight defeat with Marlou Aquino frozen on the bench in the last seven minutes although he had scored 19 points on a 7-of-11 field-goal shooting.

Coach Boyet Fernandez opted to keep Espino all the way to the finish, and the Realtors sank with their team captain who missed four important charities in the last two minutes of play.

Right after Espino’s last trip at the stripe, Hontiveros banged away two successive jumpers off perfectly-set screens from his teammates, pushing San Miguel ahead at 99-96 with time down to 24 seconds.

Kelly Williams missed a three-point try in the ensuing play then Olsen Racela nailed two charities off a Sta. Lucia desperation foul as the Beverage Masters eventually clinched the win.

Hontiveros and Danny Seigle scored 18 points apiece to pace the Beverage Masters who also drew double-digit outputs from Lordy Tugade, Racela, Enrico Villanueva and Danny Ildefonso.

It was another highly physical contest that also saw Ildefonso sustain a cut near his left eye in the first half.

The Realtors used a 10-to-nothing run at the start of the last quarter to grab the lead at 81-76.

Sta. Lucia was still ahead at 87-81 when Aquino left the floor never to return again.

After finishing with a fat zero versus the Purefoods Giants Wednesday, Aquino was happy redeeming himself with 19 points.

“Batang-bata ha,” Aquino said in a light moment with the sportswriters after the game.

On their loss that negated his efforts, the veteran slotman just shrugged his shoulders, saying “it’s coach’s prerogative.”