Wright saves the day as Hotshots escape elimination, Bolts
PBA IMAGES
Joel Wright knocked in a one-hand looper in the last two seconds and the Star Hotshots kept their flickering playoff hopes alive with a 104-103 nail-biter over the Meralco Bolts in the PBA Governors Cup at Mall of Asia Arena Sunday night.
With no more timeout left, the Bolts could only make a long desperation throw-in at the buzzer as the Hotshots snapped a five-game losing skein and thus hung on in the playoff race.
The Hotshots gained some relief but, at 2-7, would still need to win their two remaining games against TNT KaTropa and Rain or Shine to gain a crack at the last playoff berth.
Meanwhile, the Bolts were denied of an outright playoff entry for the second straight game.
Nonetheless, they stayed at fifth place at 5-5. They have their last shot at an automatic Final Eight passage versus the Mahindra Enforcers.
“I don’t know how much chances do we have. The most important thing is that the guys continue to believe in each other,” said Star coach Jason Webb.
“We have the smallest chance to make it at kami ang may kasalanan niyan. If it’s .1 percent chance, it’s better than nothing,” Webb also said.
The Hotshots lived to fight for a playoff berth with Wright, Marc Pingris, PJ Simon, Marc Barroca and Allein Maliksi carrying the fight for the Star team minus the injury-hit James Yap.
Wright delivered 27 points and 10 rebounds as he tasted a first win in the local pro league.
Pingris had a near double-double game with 15 points and nine rebounds, Simon top scored among the locals with 16, Maliksi added 15 while Barroca made 13, including four critical charities inside the final minute.
The two teams figured in an exciting duel of spurts that boiled down to a gripping seesaw battle at the finish, with Meralco taking the lead for the last time at 103-102 on a timely offensive rebound and a follow-up by Reynel Hugnatan with time down to 8.2 seconds.
With another sorry downfall looking imminent for the Hotshots, Wright, however, did something right.
He attacked Allen Durham’s defense without hesitation and sent the Hotshots’ bench and supporters in a frenzy in making the winning shot.
Going down the drain was the big numbers of Durham, Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge, and Jimmy Alapag’s four-triple explosion in the fourth.
Hodge had a key second-quarter explosion capped by a rare trey as Meralco surged ahead, 52-50, at the half.
The Hotshots got to a 19-9 start and later enjoyed a couple of 11-point margins before the Hodge and the Bolts picked up their game in the second period.
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