Star whips Meralco by 47 points to move closer to no. 2

ANTIPOLO — Merciless from the get-go, Star handed Meralco its worst loss in franchise history with a 120-73 whipping and bolstered its bid for the last twice-to-beat bonus in the 2017 PBA Philippine Cup Saturday at Ynares Sports Center here.

Allein Maliksi led the Hotshots with 25 points built on five 3-pointers in just three quarters while Paul Lee and Jio Jalalon had 15 points each.

“I’m very happy with our defense especially our perimeter defense. I challenged my players that we need to be mentally tough because Meralco is a dangerous team and they’re playing with little pressure,” said Star head coach Chito Victolero.

“My players are veterans and they step up in these kinds of games,” he added. “We prepared hard for this game and I’m very happy that all players stepped up and that we’re now in the quarters.”

Star, which rolled to its third straight win and upped its mark to 6-4, took a 63-31 halftime lead and never left anything to chance.

Sustaining their blistering shooting, the Hotshots widened the gap to 55, 104-49, after a basket by Jalalon with 8:12 left.

A win by the Hotshots over the also-ran Mahindra Floodbuster on Wednesday in the final day of the elimination round will earn them the No. 2 spot.

“Hopefully, we can play like this again against Mahindra,” said Victolero with a smile.

The 47-point victory is the biggest winning margin this season and the eighth largest win in league history. This was Star’s second win by 40 or more points after demolishing Phoenix, 123-79, last month.

Chris Newsome had 13 points, 10 of which coming in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided, to pace the Bolts, who ended the conference with a 3-8 mark.

Meralco just didn’t have anything on both ends of the floor. The Bolts shot just 38% from the field and allowed the Hotshots made 56% of their attempts, including 17-of-39 from long range.