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BIÑAN — Marc Pingris didn’t deny that Star floundered when it mattered most in Game 1 of its best-of-5 semifinals series against Meralco on Sunday at Alonte Sports Arena here.
“We gave up, and it happened, of all times, in fourth quarter,” the veteran forward said in Filipino after a 72-66 loss to the top-seeded Bolts.
Star lost an early 17-point lead and a 12-point advantage in the fourth quarter as it committed six costly turnovers in the final three minutes of the game.
“Those things happen. Maybe, because we want to win so bad, you can’t avoid turnovers like those,” he said.
“Even I am not spared from those, so next time, we have to make up for that. We need to learn from our mistakes in this game,” added Pingris, who was responsible for four of the Hotshots’ 24 turnovers that resulted to 26 turnover points by the Bolts.
Star coach Chito Victolero echoed Pingris’ sentiments and said the Hotshots have their work cut out for them in Game 2 on Tuesday.
“We need to do something on the mental aspect of our game. We got affected by their late run, so we need to calm ourselves and play for 48 minutes to bounce back for Game 2,” the soft-spoken mentor said.
And Pingris knows that the line that separates a 1-all deadlock to a 0-2 series deficit for the Hotshots will boil down to one simple thing.
“It’s all about the defense,” he said.