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Star debuts new import vs TNT

Star Hotshots. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Star Hotshots. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

With Denzel Bowles leaving to attend a death in the family, the Star Hotshots introduce a new import in Ricardo Ratliffe as they take on the Tropang TNT Texters in a duel of recent PBA Commissioners Cup champions at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

Ratliffe, a product of University of Missouri and veteran of the Korean league, has a job cut out for him as he comes in when the Hotshots are deep down in the cellar at 1-4.

The Hotshots hope to start working their way up with Ratliffe as they mix it up with David Simon and the Texters in the 5:15 p.m. Sunday mainer.

The Texters are also looking to start picking up wins as they are bunched with the Blackwater Elite, the Globalport Batang Pier, the NLEX Road Warriors and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters from sixth to 10th places with identical 2-3 cards.

Tropang TNT is the Commissioner’s Cup titleholder while Star won the mid-season tourney as part of its grandslam championship in the previous season.

But both are off to a struggling start this campaign.

The Hotshots had barely got into the winning track with a 122-103 rout of the Blackwater Elite when they suffered yet another loss to the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 87-92. Star lost all of its first three games versus Meralco, Rain or Shine then NLEX.

Star coach Jason Webb, however, insists they’re down but not yet out.

As Bowles left to pay his respects to his foster parent who passed away, Webb is hoping Ratliffe be their savior.

Ratliffe has come with sterling credentials.

At Mizzou, the 6-foot-8 power forward earned the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors in 2011 then made the Second Team All Big 12 the following year.

But left undrafted in the 2012 NBA Rookie Draft, Ratliffe brought his stuffs instead to Korea, playing for the Mobis Phoebus then with the Seoul Samsung Thunder.

In 2014, Ratliffe led the Korean team to a title run in the Jones Cup in Taipei where he won the MVP honors. Gilas Pilipinas passed up invitation to play in Jones Cup then as the Nationals instead trained in New Zealand then in Europe in preparation for the World Championship in Spain.

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