MANILA — Paul Lee drained two crucial shots in the closing minutes of a tightly fought game to lift the Star Hotshots to a 78-74 victory over the Barangay Ginebra Kings in Game 1 of their-best-of-7 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series Thursday night. Lee finished with a team-high 18 points and five assists as the Hotshots stretched their winning streak to six games. Game 2 is set on Saturday night. With the score knotted at 71-all with 4:28 left, Lee banged in a booming three-pointer. After a defensive stop, Rafi Reavis scored on a layup, boosting Star's lead to 76-71 lead. LA Tenorio, the hero of Ginebra's sudden-death match against Alaska on Tuesday, answered with a huge three-pointer of his own to cut Star's lead to 76-74 with 1:35 left. But Lee silenced the Ginebra crowd with a scintillating drive to the basket past two defenders to score on a floater off another Ginebra guard, giving Star a four-point lead with only 26 ticks left. Tenorio then committed a turnover to seal the victory for Star. Mark Barroca added 17 points for Star while Marc Pingris finished with nine points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Ginebra erected its biggest lead, 31-21, in the second quarter with Chris Ellis scoring nine points in that period. Later in the second half, the Hotshots began heating up as they slashed Ginebra's lead to just a basket, 38-37, at halftime in the low-scoring contest. Finally, Star seized the lead, 49-48, with 6:54 left in the third quarter as Ian Sangalang scored on a layup. The two teams then exchanged baskets until the last four minutes of the game when Lee took matters into his own hands. Ellis finished with a team-high 12 points for Ginebra while Japeth Aguilar scored 11 points. Jervy Cruz and Sol Mercado added 10 points apiece that all went for naught. Game Friday: TNT KaTropa vs. San Miguel Beermen (Game 2 of best-of-7 semifinals; SMB leads 1-0).
