MANILA—Star made one final push to the second seed in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals with a 124-87 rout of Mahindra in the final night of the eliminations at the Cuneta Astrodome on Wednesday.
The Hotshots waxed hot early on, dropping 41 points in the first quarter alone, and blew the game wide open from there, even leading by as much as 46 points before settling for the 37-point winning margin.
Allein Maliksi continued from his Player of the Week-worthy performance by scoring 33 points on 11-of-14 shooting, while Paul Lee added 16 points, three rebounds, five assists, and one steal for Star, which can steal the second spot from Alaska if the latter loses to Rain or Shine in the game ongoing as of posting.
Alex Mallari and Nico Salva chipped in 15 markers each for Mahindra, which closed out its Philippine Cup campaign at 3-8.
Box Scores:
Star 124-Maliksi 33, Lee 16, Melton 11, Ramos 11, Jalalon 11, Sangalang 10, Abundo 8, Barroca 7, Brondial 6, Reavis 5, Pingris 2, Javier 2, Dela Rosa 2, De Leon 0
Mahindra 87-Salva 15, Mallari 15, Yee 14, Paniamogan 9, Revilla 7, Ballesteros 6, Teng 6, Celda 5, Apinan 4, Elorde 2, Eriobu 2, Galanza 2, Nimes 0
Quarterscores: 41-19, 68-40, 93-65, 124-87