Mark Cruz shoots Star past Mahindra, into playoffs

Mark Cruz scored a PBA career-high 18 points in 22 minutes of play. Photo by KC CRUZ, GMA News

In its biggest game of the tournament so far, the Star Hotshots turned to its smallest player for the victory.

Rookie Mark Cruz had a career game, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Hotshots over Mahindra,  86-73, on Wednesday at SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

With the win, Star punched the last ticket to the quarterfinal round as the eighth seed.

"Even if we're in a twice to win disadvantage at least we're there, we're fighting, buhay pa kami," said Hotshots head coach Jason Webb .

"Our smallest guy [Mark Cruz] had to be called upon to play today. This league is so tough that you're gonna need to play your 10th guy, your 11th."

The Star Hotshots relied on their strong start and equally steady finish to brush off the Mahindra Enforcers.

After blitzing the Enforcers, 32-21, in the opening period, the Hotshots survived shaky second and third quarters, just scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, to lead by just two heading into the final frame. 53-51.

Come the fourth, Star again overwhelmed Mahindra, uncorking a 15-6 blast to claim an 11-point lead they took care of the rest of the way.

Import Ricardo Ratliffe still led the squad with 24 points and 16 boards, while Ian Sangalang and Allein Maliksi chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Star now improves to eighth place at 5-6, while Mahindra slides to ninth at 4-7 after losing their sixth straight game.

Augustus Gilchrist, Karl Dehesa, and Aldrech Ramos carried the load for the Enforcers with 13 points each. —JST/APG, GMA News