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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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05
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08
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
05
08
2024
The Star Hotshots kept their domination of league newcomer Blackwater, pulling off a 102-89 victory to finally secure a quarterfinals spot in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.
Peter June Simon bounced back strong from a scoreless game the last time out, delivering a personal season best of 26 points this time to lead the Hotshots to a 4-7 closing record in the elims.
The Hotshots made it 4-0 over the Elite in their head-on duels from last season and in the process clinched the ninth slot in the post-elims play.
Blackwater and Mahindra, deadlocked with identical 2-8 win-loss marks, dispute the last playoff berth in a do-or-die setto at the close of the elims Sunday at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.
“I must admit we want something more. But at least, we put ourselves in this situation,” said Star coach Jason Webb.
“It’s super difficult. We haven’t found a way to win back-to-back games. If there’s a time for it to come, sana ngayon,” Webb added.
As they barely made the playoff play, the Hotshots face a rival with a twice-to-beat advantage in the initial stage of the two-phase quarterfinals. If they survive, they play a knockout game in the second and final part of the quarters.
“We need three straight wins to make the semis. “It won’t be easy. It’s a different course (for the Star team),” said Webb.
Simon knocked down 5-of-6 three-pointers, 3-of-8 twinners and 5-of-5 charities to lead the Hotshots past the Elite in their crucial tussle.
The Elite had hoped to win the game to make some separation with the Enforcers.
The Hotshots, however, handled the best the Elite could offer, fashioning out a wire-to-wire victory.
Allein Maliksi, Marc Pingris, Alex Mallari and Mark Barroca contributed double-digit outputs for the
Hotshots while Carlo Lastimosa topscored for the Elite with 18 markers.
The Hotshots nailed eight triples to none for the Elite as Star took the half at 52-42.
The Elite got to within four early in the final quarter but the Hotshots kept their composure, answering with a 10-to-nothing run to regain a comfortable lead at 88-74.
It was a breeze from there.
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