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[av_heading heading=’ Star draws first blood in Comm’s Cup semis’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Sunday, June 11, 2017
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MANILA – Aldrech Ramos drained a game-clinching triple as Star Hotshots won Game 1 of the 2017 Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinals, 109-105, over San Miguel Beermen on Saturday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
After seeing its 15-point lead evaporate to 105-104 on consecutive triples by Beermen’s Marcio Lassiter, Ramos put out 3 points to extend the lead to 4 before Mark Barroca sealed the victory with free throws.
Reinforcement Ricardo Ratliffe and Allein Maliksi led the way with 26 points apiece for Hotshots, which set its eyes on its first PBA Finals appearance under head coach Chito Victolero.
Ian Sangalang added 12 markers, while Ramos contributed 11 points, including three 3-point conversions, for Hotshots.
With a slim 75-72 lead after three quarters, Star banked on 3-pointers by Justin Melton and Maliksi to build its largest lead, 94-79, on a conversion by Ratliffe.
Beermen leaned on back-to-back triples by Lassiter to come to within 6 points, but 3-pointers by Barroca and Maliksi increased the lead to 105-92 after a basket by Sangalang.
San Miguel then went on a 12-0 run on 5 straight points by Arwind Santos, an inside hit by June Mar Fajardo and a triple by Lassiter to come to within 105-104, but Star got a timely trey from Ramos to increase the lead to 4 with 12.3 seconds left.
Import Charles Rhodes had double-double 34 points and 10 rebounds, while Fajardo added 24 points and nine boards for Beermen, which was aiming for its second straight PBA title./PN
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