PBA: Magnolia banks on stellar second half to demolish Phoenix

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Magnolia Chicken Timplados leaned on its efficient second-half performance to hand the Phoenix Super LPG its first loss of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, 107-92, last November 12, 2023, held at the Ynares Center.

After a tightly contested first half where Phoenix did enough to equalize the ball game at 51-all, the more experienced Chicken Timplados smelled blood when the third quarter kicked off and just ran them over to completely seize full control of the game.

From a 51-all deadlock, Magnolia quickly turned things around midway through the third quarter and ballooned its lead to double digits after import Tyler Bey went unconscious from the shooting field.

The do-it-all reinforcement dropped 12 points in the third quarter alone and finished his second stint with Magnolia with 32 markers and 16 rebounds.

Aside from his dominant outing both in offense and the rebounding department, Bey also recorded three steals that boosted their second-half surge.

The Chicken Timplados extended its largest lead of the game at 22 points, 97-75, with 7:10 remaining and didn’t look back behind the shooting prowess of Jio Jalalon and Paul Lee.

After Bey’s third-quarter explosion, the Magnolia locals led by Jalalon and Lee carried the squad in terms of scoring and didn’t allow Phoenix to trim their deficit to single digits.

Jalalon stole the limelight for the Chicken Timplados after capping off the night with a highlight-filled performance on his way to 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Meanwhile, Lee added 13 points and drew most of his production off the pick-and-roll screens in traffic.

The Chicken Timplados will look to maintain its perfect record and gun for a third straight win against the Northport Batang Pier on November 17, 2023.