By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Magnolia Chicken Timplados ended their PBA On Tour Preseason campaign with a dominant 11-0 tournament sweep last July 26, 2023, held at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Magnolia passed their last test and handed the Terrafirma Dyip a double-digit beating, 106-92, to end the Preseason competition as the only team with an undefeated record.
Following their 10 straight wins, the Chicken Timplados just looked like a different fluid team as their cohesion and communication as a squad went off-the-charts against the Dyip.
It wasn’t an easy task as Terrafirma was able to hold their ground and outscore the Chicken Timplados after scoring several mini-offensive runs in the second and third quarters.
The duo of Juami Tiongson and Isaac Go lifted Terrafirma and joined hands in providing the much-needed scoring spark for the Dyip.
However, Magnolia’s head coach Chito Victolero once again drew one of his signature counters after deploying a small-ball lineup.
With the quicker Jio Jalalon manning the point, the Chicken Timplados were able to outrun Terrafirma while also having a bunch of stellar performances from their bench players.
Joseph Eriobu, Magnolia’s player for the 3×3 competition in the PBA, spearheaded a momentum-clinching 14-2 scoring run to break the 69-all deadlock.
It was then all Magnolia as Eriobu’s waxing hot scoring helped the Chicken Timplados pull away and control the tempo of the game.
James Laput, Magnolia’s solid big man who is one of their consistent performers in the Preseason, contributed another steady outing after putting up 16 points and 11 rebounds.
After Magnolia got what they wanted from their small-ball strategy, coach Victolero inserted Laput to do damage in the shaded lane.
Laput enjoyed tons of scoring after several beautifully executed pick-and-roll plays ran by Jalalon in the second half.
Despite only scoring three markers, Jalalon made his impact on the playmaking department and dished out a total of 12 assists.
“We have achieved a late in this preseason. But this is not the real battle. The real battle will be in October. So we will try to prepare hard again for the regular season,” said coach Victolero after the win.
