Jalalon lifts Star at the buzzer

Rookie Jio Jalalon created the first highlight moment of his PBA career with a game-winning shot at the buzzer Friday night that rescued Star from a potential upset against NLEX and taught the Hotshots a lesson they could use further down the Commissioner’s Cup road.

Jalalon drained a running jumper from deep right corner at the buzzer to key a 105-103 decision of the Road Warriors at Smart Araneta Coliseum as the Hotshots remained unbeaten in the eliminations while getting a feel of what it takes to come out of a tight fix.

“This (type of game) is good for us because we can see the things we need to improve on,” said coach Chito Victolero after Star’s third straight win. “It will help us in our next games, handling pressure-packed situations.”

It was actually a night of heroic first-year players as rookie RR Pogoy stepped up in the clutch and finished with a career-high 24 points to lift TNT KaTropa to a come-from-behind 92-89 nipping of undermanned Blackwater in the first game.

Star’s win gave it the start it needs going into a three-game stretch in the next eight days, but Victolero wants his wards to stay focused the entire game from hereon, especially after yielding 40 points to the Road Warriors in the third.

“I am just very happy they stepped up on defense in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We totally lost focus [in the third]. We gave up 34 points in the first half and allowed them to score 40 [in the third quarter].”

Tony Mitchell scored 15 points in the fourth and helped the Hotshots dodge the upset ax as NLEX remained winless in four games despite getting 33 points, 19 rebounds and five assists from Wayne Chism.

This one, though, could be the bitterest pill to swallow for the Road Warriors, who had possession with 30 seconds remaining and couldn’t break a 103-all tie when Rabeh Al-Hussaini missed a short jump hook.

TNT coach Nash Racela was far from satisfied with his team’s latest victory, saying he will be demanding more from import Donte Greene.

“I’m not satisfied, because I know that he can give us a lot more,” Racela went on after Greene finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds but didn’t show the defensive intensity that Racela wants everyone to play with. “Some [imports] think that it’s easy playing in the PBA, but it’s not easy and you realize that.”

Pogoy scored 11 of his total in the fourth period and was the main reason why the Texters were able to win a second straight game and rise to 2-1.

Meanwhile, crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra makes its much-awaited debut Saturday against winless GlobalPort in a Petron Saturday Special game at University of Southeastern Philippines gym in Davao City.

That game tips off at 5 p.m. with the Gin Kings to parade Justin Brownlee, the man responsible for snapping an eight-year title drought by hitting the championship-winning triple at the buzzer in Game 6 of the Governors’ Cup Finals last season against Meralco.