JIO Jalalon got blocked by Geron Johnson, but recovered the ball in mid-air and in one motion banked a shot in to beat the halftime buzzer.
It was that kind of a night for Star, which went on to handily beat Kia, 128-81, Friday and keep alive its hopes of making the PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals top four at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Kristofer Acox dished out a much better performance than in his debut and the Hotshots' locals were quick to take the cue as they practically ran roughshod over the Picanto's defense to complete the wire-to-wire victory.
Should Star, now with a 6-4 slate, close out the eliminations with another win over NLEX Sunday and some of the other teams above it in the standings lose, then it could gain inclusion in the magic circle and cop a twice-to-beat advantage in the next round.
"Crucial for NLEX and for us so we need to prepare hard for that," said Hotshots coach Chito Victolero. "Kasi nga that's all we have para magkaroon ng chance sa Top Four. Ganu'n din ang NLEX.
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"Magandang laro iyan sa Sunday."
The loss meant Kia bows out of the season-ending tourney with no wins in 11 games, a direction the Picanto seemed headed for when Jalalon made his shot that pegged a 65-36 Star lead at the half.
Despite not seeing action at all in the fourth quarter, which Star went into with a 91-60 spread, Acox still wound up with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Jalalon, PJ Simon, Ian Sangalang, Marc Pingris, Justin Melton and Mark Barroca each had at least 10 points.
It was a double celebration for Pingris as his fastbreak dunk in the last seven seconds of the game gave him 12 points and enshrined him as the 86th member, and only 82nd local, of the 42-year-old league's 5,000 Points Club.
Also not finishing the game was Johnson, who was taken out with Star comfortably ahead, 110-71, still 5:36 left to play. He wound up with 27 points on 9-for-25 field shooting, eight rebounds and five assists in his final game.
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Nico Elorde, Jackson Corpuz and Eric Camson, with at least 10 points each, were the only other double-digit scorers for Kia, which could now only look forward to the draft where it picks first overall.
