March 25, 2017

Mitchell gets a lot of support in Star’s 26-point rout of Globalport

TUBOD, Lanao del Norte – The Star Hotshots had the answer on the expected fiery games of the GlobalPort trio of Terrence Romeo, Stanley Pringle and Sean Williams.

The Hotshots came through with a solid game on both ends as they did in their triumphant tournament debut, roaring to a second straight win with a 103-77 dumping of the Batang Pier in a PBA Commissioner’s Cup Petron Blaze Saturday Special at the Mindanao Civic Center here.

Tony Mitchell and his teammates picked up from where they left off in their 101-82 rout of Phoenix Petroleum Wednesday and easily withstood the three-man show of Romeo, Pringle and Williams.

The Hotshots thus caught up with the Alaska Milk Aces and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 2-0 while sending the Batang Pier down to 0-2.

Minus the then ailing Romeo, the Batang Pier suffered a nastier 79-107 loss in their previous match against the Alaska Milk Aces.

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With the scoring machine back in harness, Globalport seized the early initiative, leading by nine before Star made the needed adjustments to wrest control and subsequently run away with the win.

Romeo was obviously still far from tiptop shape, coming away with only 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting. He averaged 28.8 points in the Philippine Cup.

As they trailed by 18 at 71-89 with 5:24 left to play, Globalport coach Franz Pumaren pulled Romeo out and rested him the rest of the way.

Williams and Pringle produced 20 and 19 points, respectively.

Mitchell came up with 22 points and drew support practically from all the players fielded in by coach Chito Victolero.

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Jio Jalalon and PJ Simon combined for 25 points coming off the bench while Ian Sangalang, Mark Barroca and Allein Maliksi scored 22 points together as starters. Aldrech Ramos and Justin Melton chipped in nine points each in relief jobs.

From a slim 46-43 halftime lead, the Hotshots pressed their bid and built a pair of 17-point spreads in the third quarter, the first at 77-60 on a three-pointer by Mitchell.

And there’s simply no stopping the Hotshots in the payoff period.