IT was RR Garcia’s turn, this time.
The rising spitfire didn’t shy away from the spotlight, scoring a team-high 26 points to lead Star to a hard-fought 105-102 squeaker over GlobalPort as the Hotshots finally tasted a win in the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
Garcia, after fishing a crucial and game-turning deliberate foul from Stanley Pringle, calmly sank the two game-winning free throws with 8.4 seconds left in extension to give Star a vital 104-102 edge.
Still with ball possession, Star went to Mark Barroca and he was fouled, splitting his charities to make it 105-102 with seven seconds left, leaving GlobalPort one last shot to try and force another overtime.
However, the Batang Pier’s last possession went astray with Joseph Yeo shooting a triple that hit all air, allowing Star to escape with a win in the highly contested game that saw 20 lead changes and 17 deadlocks.
“Mas masarap itong panalo kesa sa talo,” said Star coach Jason Webb, who expressed a huge sigh of relief. “He (Garcia) got his confidence going. He really looked good.”
“Binigay ko yung best ko talaga para dito sa unang panalo namin na ‘to,” said Garcia, who shot an incredible 11-of-13 from the field.
Star improved to 1-2 and is in the running in the middle of the pack.
On the other hand, GlobalPort remained without a win and fell further down to 0-3, now tied at the cellar with Phoenix.
It was also Garcia, who sent the seesaw game into overtime with his game-tying floater with 3.7 seconds left to make it 92-all.
Terrence Romeo then fumbled the ball in the ensuing play and wasn’t even able to put up a shot, enabling five more minutes of action.
Romeo and Garcia, former teammates at FEU, went toe-to-toe in a shootout all game long.
Romero had the game-high of 27 points, but it was Garcia who had the last laugh as he and the Hotshots came away with the much needed victory.
Due to the strong thunderstorm outside, lightning struck the Big Dome’s electrical facility, causing a temporary shutdown of the lightings on the court.
It was 71-all when the game was interrupted and it was resumed after around 20 minutes of stop time.
The scores:
STAR 105 – Garcia 26, Blakely 24, Simon 15, Barroca 11, Pingris 8, Maliksi 7, Sangalang 6, Mallari 4, Pascual 2, Reavis 2, Yap 0.
GLOBALPORT 102 – Glover 27, Romeo 27, Pringle 20, Yeo 11, Taha 10, Semerad 3, Dehesa 2, Kramer 2, Mamaril 0.
Quarters: 19-22, 42-44, 71-71, 92-92, 105-102
Games Today (Smart Araneta Coliseum)
4:15 p.m. – Mahindra vs. San Miguel
7 p.m. – Barangay Ginebra vs. NLEX