Phoenix ends season on high note

MANILA, Philippines — With the door on the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs slammed shut, Phoenix trained its sights on the next best thing – the highest finish among ousted squads.

The Fuel Masters made sure of this by clobbering fellow also-ran Blackwater, 124-109, in a de facto battle for No. 9 last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The 15-point romp enabled the Jamike Jarin-coached team to bow out of the season-ending conference riding a two-game run and carrying a record of 4-7. Ultimately, they were two wins short of forcing a rubber match for No. 8 with defending champion Meralco (6-5).

The Bossing finished at 2-9.

Jason Perkins and Ken Tuffin delivered career-high scores of 39 and 29, respectively, as they greatly helped the Fuel Masters in meeting their pre-exit objective.

A smashing follow-up to their 118-107 W over NorthPort, the victory served as momentum builder for Phoenix going to the next season.

“The way we played the last two games, it’s how we should be playing in Season 50,” said Jarin.

Later, Magnolia secured a Top 4 seeding and twice-to-beat advantage at 8-3 with a 88-83 bounceback victory over TNT. The Tropang 5G dropped out of the “Magic 4” race at 6-5.

The Hotshots racked up 16 unanswered points in a seven-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth cantos.