Strike twice in three nights the Star Hotshots did against the NLEX Road Warriors to nail the first berth in the PBA Governors Cup semifinal round.
The Hotshots repeated their come-from-behind 101-93 win over the Road Warriors Sunday night, this time rallying from eight points down late in the third en route to an 89-77 victory that sent Star to the best-of-five semis, awaiting the winner of the Meralco-Blackwater quarterfinals tiff.
"We're thankful to the blessings. From No. 7, naging No. 4 kami. And now we made the semifinals again," said Star coach Chito Victolero, moments after clinching a semis berth at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Tuesday night.
"We've been here. We made the semis in the all-Filipino and in the Commissioner's Cup hindi nga lang umabot sa finals. Hopefully, we can go over the hump this time," Victolero added.
Victolero is hoping their unity will pay off.
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"As a group, we're united in our system and in our goal. Tonight, our goal was to limit them below 80 and we did just that by limiting their fastbreak and transition points," Victolero pointed out.
From 55-63 down late in the third, the Hotshots held the Road Warriors to 14 points in a defensive effort that spelled the big difference in their conquest of the Road Warriors.
NLEX saw the end of its campaign in the season, joining in early vacation early casualties Kia Picanto, Phoenix Petroleum, Alaska Milk and GlobalPort.
The Hotshots attacked the Road Warriors heavily at the post as Kris Acox and his teammates erased their eight-point deficit late in the third and went on to notch a third straight win after their closing back-to-back triumphs over KIA then NLEX in the elims.
NLEX, meanwhile, lost all of its last four outing in a sorry foldup after a swashbuckling start in the elims.
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From the 55-63 count, Star uncorked a decisive 14-to-nothing run to turn things around, and the Hotshots roared on to ease the Road Warriors out of further contention.
Acox scored 21 points, Paul Lee added 18 and Ian Sangalang contributed 14 to pace the Hotshots in the low-scoring ball game.
Aaron Fuller, Alex Mallari and Kevin Alas top scored for the Road Warriors with 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively. (SB)
