STAR BLUDGEONS GLOBALPORT TO STAY ALIVE

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The Star Hotshots sure know how to exact revenge the hard way.

After a GlobalPort win last Tuesday denied the Hotshots of snagging the final twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs, Star decimated the Batang Pier with a 126-73 mugging at the start of the playoffs Friday at Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The demolition job by the Hotshots forced a winner-take-all decider on Sunday between the 4-versus-5 quarterfinals pairing for the right to advance to a 2015 PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-5 semifinal against the winner of the Alaska-Barangay Ginebra quarterfinal.

“We just came out with the big punch in the beginning of the game, staggered them and I think we just kept on pummeling them,” said Star head coach Tim Cone.

Marqus Blakely paced Star with 23 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, while Mark Barroca added 16 markers and five dimes in the game where the Hotshots fell one point shy of matching the entire GlobalPort output.

Alex Mallari and James Yap both finished with 15, as Justin Melton got 14 in the rout.

The 53-point spread marked the all-time largest win margin in PBA playoff history, topping the 48-point wins set by Burger King over Sta. Lucia, 120-72 in the 2009 Fiesta Conference quarterfinals, and Alaska over Tanduay, 119-71 in the 2000 Commissioner’s Cup battle for third.

It was also the fourth all-time largest margin of victory in league history, and the biggest win for the Purefoods franchise, topping its 114-73 win over Coca-Cola in the 2007 Philippine Cup.

Star bludgeoned GlobalPort from the get-go and already took an insurmountable 38-point by halftime, 73-35, the second all-time most lopsided halftime score ever, next only to Sta. Lucia’s 58-18 advantage over Coca-Cola after 24 minutes of play on Nov. 14, 2007.

Everything went the way of the Hotshots in the game where they led by as much as 63 points, 121-58, after a trey by Lester Alvarez with 4:51 left in the fourth period.

Though victorious, Cone knows that the job still isn’t over for Star, which is deadset on retaining the only remaining jewel from their Grand Slam feat last season.

“Bottomline is we’re not playing a 48-minute game. We’re playing a 96-minute game. We’re only at halftime in our minds and we start at 0-0 again,” he said.

GlobalPort wasted a golden opportunity with the twice-to-beat incentive, and will go up against Star in a sudden death affair on Sunday in hopes of making it to its first semifinals appearance in franchise history.

Terrence Romeo led the Batang Pier with 18 points, while Jarrid Famous still tallied a double-double with 16 markers and 15 rebounds in the losing effort. (RL)

The scores:

STAR 126 – Blakely 23, Barroca 16, Mallari 15, Yap 15, Melton 14, Taha 8, Simon 8, Maliksi 7, Devance 6, Alvarez 3, Gaco 3, Pingris 3, Pennisi 3, Allado 2, Reavis 0.

GLOBALPORT 73 – Romeo 18, Famous 16, Caperal 8, Semerad 5, Miranda 5, Krayem 4, Pringle 4, Isip 4, Pinto 2, Hayes 2, Jensen 2, Mamaril 2, Buenafe 1, Taha 0, Kramer 0, Ponferrada 0.

Quarterscores: 37-18, 73-35, 103-54, 126-73.

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