Ratliffe on guarding Stepheson: I wanted to tire him out

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Star import Ricardo Ratliffe employed one simple tactic in stopping Meralco’s hulking import Alexander Stepheson in their matchup in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

“I just tried to wear him down a little, I ran the floor and just tried to make him tired,” said Ratliffe who finished with a game-high 32 points to go along 13 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.

Ratliffe’s ploy worked perfectly as he helped Star to a 108-90 shellacking of Meralco as hhe limited Stepheson to a subpar line of nine points, on 4-of-7 shooting, and nine rebounds.

Stepheson, who stands two inches taller than the 6-foot-8 Ratliffe, has been averaging 18.88 points, 24 rebounds, and 15 shot attempts per game before he ran into Star’s defense.

“He’s big, well I’m big too, but he’s huge so I know I can beat him up and down the floor and get him tired and I figured once he’s tired he’ll start to foul a bit,” said Ratliffe who forced Stepheson to six personal fouls.

Stepheson was pedestrian at best for Meralco as he turned the ball over six times, the last one happening before his sixth personal foul at the 6:15 mark of the fourth quarter.

Ratliffe said it was his constant pestering of Stepheson that caused the former University of Southern California Trojan to go awry on defense.

“When you get fatigued, it’s kind of hard to play defense so I guess my strategy worked,” said Ratliffe. “He’s still a big presence inside but the game plan worked and coach [Chito Victolero] prepared us very well.