Page 3 - Five Assists News Today

MANILA - Magnolia stayed alive in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals after tripping TNT, 105-97, in Game 5 of their series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Friday. Sent to the brink of elimination, the Hotshots played with much urgency against the Tropang Giga, sizzling offensively for 59 points in the first half, the most by any team to start a game in their best-of-seven series. TNT tried to crawl back into the game in the second half, but Magnolia quickly weathered the rallies a...

MANILA -- TNT showed its championship pedigree on Magnolia with a 108-96 win at the start of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Led by another explosive game from Mikey Williams, the Tropang Giga quickly deposed the Hotshots from start to finish to draw first blood in their best-of-seven series, although the PLDT franchise had to repulse a fourth-quarter threat from the Purefoods squad. Williams finished with 26 points, five rebounds, four assists, and ...

MANILA - Magnolia Hotshots booked a place in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals with a 112-106 overtime win against NLEX Road Warriors in the deciding game of their best-of-three quarterfinal series on Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Jio Jalalon took over in the extension as he was responsible for nine of the Hotshots' first 11 points, scoring seven on his own and assisting on a layup from Calvin Abueva to open a 108-100 lead with 1:15 remaining. Don Trollano tried to pl...

MANILA - The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards denied the All-Star Bacolod Ballers a giant slaying to begin their two-game home stand as the former prevailed, 81-74, in a Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League triple-overtime thriller that ended just past midnight on Tuesday at the University of St. La Salle Gym in Bacolod City. Despite a solid defensive performance, Bacolod failed to close out Nueva Ecija, and the latter got its offensive game in the overtime sessions to take the road win. Entering the...

MANILA - San Miguel Beermen weathered a mini late rally from Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters to reclaim the solo top spot in the PBA Philippine Cup standings after a 99-93 win on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Beermen showed their class for the most part of the tight contest even as they eventually opened an 11-point lead, 95-84, with 2:20 to play. The Elasto Painters, however, banked on six straight free throws to cut the lead down to five, 95-90, with 1:19 left...

STA. ROSA, Laguna - San Juan's early silencing of Laguna turned out to be enough as the latter made things interesting in the fourth quarter only to fall short and the former won on the road, 78-68, in their MPBL Saturday night game at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex here. Taking quick control of the game, the Knights raced to a lead as high as 27 points, 69-42, late in the third quarter. However, the Heroes responded with a 17-2 run spanning through the midway part of the fourth ...

NLEX versus San Miguel Beer (PBA Images) MANILA - San Miguel took solo lead in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup after stopping NLEX, 100-92, on Friday at Ynares Center in Antipolo. The Beermen contained the Road Warriors after letting them explode in the first period, where the latter raced to a 33-25 lead. SMB slowly crippled NLEX in the next 36 minutes, outscoring them the rest of the way, 75-59, to eventually prevail. SMB coach Leo Austria admitted that his team unde...

Chris Newsome (Courtesy of PBA Image) MANILA - Chris Newsome stood tallest in Meralco's balanced attack to hold off No. 1 seed Magnolia in a do-or-die Game 5 to arrange another duel with rival Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Governors' Cup finals. The seasoned guard did it all for the Bolts, canning 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 2.5 steals in the last two games of the best-of-five semifinals which they won, 3-2. The Fil-Am guard thus emerged as the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps P...

MANILA - TNT took the last Top 4 incentive for the PBA Governors' Cup quarterfinals after surviving a huge second half from NorthPort for a 106-101 overtime win in the final game of the elimination round at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Friday night. Despite blowing an 18-point lead, the Tropang Giga prevailed after the Batang Pier committed crucial errors late into the extension as the former got a twice-to-beat advantage in the next round as the third seed. TNT quickly went ...

Meralco 109, Phoenix 90 (Graphics courtesy of PBA Facebook) MANILA - Meralco clinched a twice-to-beat advantage in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors' Cup quarterfinals on Friday after drubbing Phoenix, 109-90, in the penultimate game of the elimination round at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Bolts sizzled offensively in the odd-numbered quarters, but the turning point came in the third where it limited Phoenix to just 13 points to open an 88-68 lead enteri...