Purefoods stays perfect, sinks Blackwater to 0-3

MANILA, Philippines—Still standing tall are the Purefoods Star Hotshots as they notched their third straight win of their PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign at the expense of Blackwater Elite, 98-86, Friday evening at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Purefoods was locked and loaded and its import, the six-foot-five Marqus Blakely, was once again a big time player for the Hotshots.

Blakely finished with a quality line of 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Hotshots to a 3-0 record.

Running in full steam in the fourth quarter, the Hotshots were blazing their path with an 11-2 sprint to put the boards at 91-74 with Justin Melton’s two-handed jam off Mark Barroca’s alley-oop pass highlighting the rally and exciting the crowd inside the historic domed arena.

Hotshots head coach Tim Cone was thankful that he got the chance to rest his starters after his second unit practically ruled the parquet.

“The second unit guys, Allein (Maliksi), Justin, Marc, busted the game open for us,” Cone said. “You need games where you can rest your key guys.”

Purefoods played Blakely for the third time but their import for the conference, Daniel Orton, would be a “lock” for the next game as Blakely would have to travel to the United States to seek medication for his injured shoulder.

Orton is nursing his swollen hand, his shooting hand, which put him on the sidelines.

A simple 6-0 run at the end of the third put distance between the two teams as Purefoods took an 11-point lead with 14.5 remaining in the period.

Scoring was aplenty for Purefoods as four more players put up double-digit numbers.

Marc Pingris put up 14 points and grabbed seven boards while Barroca scored 13.

Melton and Maliksi each had a dozen for the Hotshots.

Former Gilas center Marcus Douthit led Blackwater with 30 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Box scores

PUREFOODS 98 – Blakely 23, Pingris 14, Barroca 13, Melton 12, Maliksi 12, Yap 9, Devance 7, Mallari 4, Taha 2, Reavis 2, Simon 0, Alvarez 0, Gaco 0, Allado 0, Pennisi 0.

BLACKWATER 86 – Douthit 30, Faundo 14, Heruela 10, Gamalinda 9, Laure 6, Canada 5, Acuna 5, Bulawan 4, Celiz 3, Timberlake 0, Reyes 0, Nuyles 0, Erram 0, Ballesteros 0, Austria 0.

Quarterscores: 23-23, 52-44, 74-63, 98-86