MANILA — Despite playing with a dislocated left shoulder, long-time Purefoods import Marqus Blakely still managed to stamp his class to lead the Hotshots to a rousing 83-70 win over the GlobalPort Batang Pier Friday night in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome. Blakely, a stand-in import while Purefoods awaits the arrival of its original reinforcement Daniel Orton, scored a team-high 26 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked seven shots in a vintage performance that catapulted the Hotshots to their first victory in the conference. Standing at 6'5”, Blakely is the shortest import in the conference pending the arrival of Orton. The high-leaping Blakely appeared to have dislocated his left shoulder in a battle for ball possession with his GlobalPort counterpart CJ Leslie in the first half. Fortunately Blakely managed to pop his left shoulder back to its socket in the second half to continue playing as if nothing happened. Mark Barroca was the top local gunner for Purefoods with 11 points on top of eight rebounds, while Alex Mallari added 10 and four boards. Purefoods won despite missing the services of resident gunner PJ Simon who was suffering from back spasms. Power forward Marc Pingris played despite nursing a sore back as he defended against Leslie. Pingris finished with six points. Blakely led a 16-0 Purefoods blitz in the third quarter as the Hotshots raced to a 57-42 lead that proved too much for the Batang Pier to overcome. GlobalPort suffered its first loss after winning its opening game against KIA Motors. The Batang Pier were led by their import Leslie who finished with 25 points and eight rebounds. Terrence Romeo added 19 while Denok Miranda chipped in with 10 points. Meralco 90, KIA Motors 80 With Gary David raining long bombs from all over, the Meralco Bolts recovered from a slow start to hack out a 90-80 come-from-behind victory over the KIA Motors Carnival. Meralco thus found itself at the top of the standings with its second win in as many games following the Bolts' humbling of the Barangay Ginebra Kings Tuesday. David teamed up with flashy import Josh Davis in a third quarter rampage as the Bolts rocketed to a 61-48 lead after erasing an 11-point deficit. KIA's behemoth import Peter John Ramos, the tallest in the conference at 7'3”, fought like a one-man army in the fourth quarter as the Carnival cut the Meralco lead to 69-68. But David proved that he could stand up against KIA's Goliath as he joined hands with back-up point guard Jai Reyes in an 11-3 Meralco run in a span of three minutes to finally seal the victory for the Bolts. David finished with 25 points, including four triples, while Davis added 19 markers, 11 rebounds and seven steals. Reyes, who was named Best Player of the Game, scored a career-high 16 points on top of four rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes of action off the bench. Meralco coach Norman Black was forced to use Reyes as his team's starting point guard Mike Cortez came into the arena with a swollen right knee and could hardly run. The Bolts also played minus Jared Dillinger, another ace guard, who remained sidelined due to a right knee strain. KIA Motors suffered a second straight loss as they continued playing without playing coach Manny Pacquiao, who was still stranded in Miami, Florida, due to snowstorms. They also missed the services of their top local player Reil Cervantes who was downed with an undisclosed injury. Ramos led the Carnival with 34 points and 21 rebounds. Games Sunday: Blackwater Elite vs. Talk N Text Tropang Texters; Barangay Ginebra Kings vs. Barako Bull Energy.
