With the last quarterfinal seat hanging in the Balance, the Star Hotshots managed to advance to the next round after eliminating the Mahindra Enforcers in a thrilling 84-73 affair in the first game of Wednesday’s double-header held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
For the first half of the opening quarter, the teams exchanged baskets that yielded a slim 16-15 advantage for the Hotshots. However, Allein Maliksi fired two triples to power a 16-6 closeout to the opening quarter in favor of his squad. During the surge, Star also ran in transition, leaving the Enforcers to the losing end of a strong rampage.
In the next two quarters, Mahindra won the scoring battle using their defensive effort against Star. They limited Star to a combined 21-point effort in the middle frames, while their locals tried to carry their load on the offensive end. Offense cooled down for the Hotshots, who saw their lead trimmed in the first minutes of the new half. Mahindra’s trio of Mark Yee, KG Canaleta, and Aldrech Ramos led the Enforcers’ grind to tie the match at 51 with a minute left in the third.
“Even if we are in a twice to win disadvantage, at least we’re there. We’re fighting, buhay pa kami,” said Star head coach Jason Webb. “All credit to the talent these guys have and the heart these players have.”
Despite a poor 10-point third quarter for Star, they showcased their own defensive prowess in the final period of play, led by Ricardo Ratliffe. The Hotshots silenced the Enforcers until the 5:38 mark of the fourth. By that time, they had already reinstalled a double-digit separation through timely baskets from former Letran standout Mark Cruz. Cruz caught fire in the last period, scoring 14 big points, including three bombs from downtown. At the other end, Mahindra’s offensive spurt came late, with the Hotshots already having established a comfortable margin.
Cruz came off the bench scoring 18 points and two rebounds, including the three triples in the fourth and a perfect 5/5 from the foul stripe. After the match, he mentioned that he expected a heavy load on minutes due to lack of bodies available for the squad during the game.
The 5’5” sniper said, “medyo nagsabi si coach na since kulang kami guards, mag ready lang ako. First, ung pressure napakabigat kasi do-or-die, pero nagtiwala si coach.”
“Nagfocus lang ako gameplan malaking confidence to para samin sa quarterfinals. Hindi talaga kami susuko hanggang huli,” he added.
Coach Webb had nothing but praise for Cruz, saying, “our smallest guy came to play today and yun kahit maliit yung tao, yung puso nung bata grabe. So lucky to coach these guys with the heart they showed today.”
Star had three more 3-pointers compared to Mahindra and collected more rebounds, 45-40. In addition, they had 15 more points from the foul stripe after shooting 22/26 from the charity stripe, while also scoring 18 second chance points.
The Hotshots ended their 11-game elimination phase with a 5-6 record, while Mahindra dropped to 4-7 and a six-game losing skid.
The Scores:
Star (84) – Ratliffe 22, Cruz 18, Sangalang 12, Maliksi 11, Simon 8, Barroca 5, Melton 4, Pingris 3, Reavis 1, Pascual 0.
Mahindra (73) – Gilchrist 13, Dehesa 13, Ramos 13, Canaleta 8, Yee 7, Revilla 5, Guinto 4, Elorde 4, Aguilar 2, Bagatsing 2, Ballesteros 2, Digregorio 0, Pinto 0.
Quarterscores: 32-21, 43-36, 53-51, 84-73.
