In a rivalry bout deemed to go down the wire, it went otherwise.
The Star Hotshots displayed their lethal playoff form to obliterate Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 118-82, to nab a 1-0 series lead in their best-of-three quarterfinal affair, Monday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
The Hotshots are now the league’s hottest team, as their Game One triumph stretched their winning streak to six, dating back from the elimination phase.
“I think we have a proper mindset. We focused on our defense. We have a defensive scheme against their players — the important players like James [Yap] and their import,” said Star head coach Chito Victolero on the win that saw them limit Yap to just five points.
Ricardo Ratliffe powered Star with 29 points, missing just twice in his 14 shots, alongside eight rebounds and two blocks, while forwards Allein Maliksi and Aldrech Ramos provided 16 and 15 markers, respectively.
The Hotshots’ offensive onslaught lit late in the second frame, zooming to eight straight points punctuated by a Paul Lee bucket to break away by a whopping 26 points, 61-35, with 1:37 on the clock — a lead they never gave up all through out.
The team in yellow was able to establish the game’s widest gap at 41, 114-73, after a stepback jumper by Justin Melton with 4:57 left to play.
“I’m very happy na everybody stepped up in their individual mindset. I think yung focus and yung desire ng players, ng bawat player namin, nag-react kaagad sila sa challenge ko,” added Victolero.
Ian Sangalang chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds for Star. Point guards Jio Jalalon and Mark Barroca had 11 markers each, with the former adding seven caroms to his stat line, while the latter had seven assists.
Paul Lee only had nine points, but dished out 10 dimes.
Duke Crews led the Elasto Painters with 19 points on 50 percent shooting to go with 13 rebounds. Beau Belga was his only back-up with 18 on 10 shots in the loss — the franchise’s third-worst defeat.
The Hotshots had a blistering 61 percent shooting from the floor, and their ball movement was also on point as they made 32 assists. The bench also stepped up notably, contributing 60 points to their output.
Star will have a chance to close out the series on Wednesday, June 7, 4:15 PM, still at the Big Dome, but Victolero insisted that they still have to put in the same effort that catapulted them to Monday night’s victory.
“Right now maganda ang panalo namin but we cannot afford to relax. Kailangan pa rin namin magtrabaho,” Victolero said.
The Scores:
Star (118) – Ratliffe 29, Maliksi 16, Ramos 12, Barroca 11, Jalalon 11, Lee 9, Simon 6, Abundo 5, Javier 2, Melton 2, Reavis 0, Brondial 0, Mendoza 0.
Rain or Shine (82) – Crews 19, Belga 18, Tolomia 9, Tiu 6, Chan 5, Yap 5, Almazan 4, Cruz 4, Washington 4, Norwood 3, Trollano 3, Ponferada 2, Robles 0, Maiquez 0.
Quarterscores: 26-23, 61-40, 95-64, 118-82.
