CALASIAO, Pangasinan – PJ Simon of Magnolia captured the PBA All-Star Three-Point Shootout right on his first try after beating rookie Robert Bolick in a close contest on Friday at the Calasiao Sports Complex.
The 38-year-old Simon was in vintage form in the PBA All-Star side event, posting the score to beat in the preliminaries with 20 points and heating up in the last few racks to post 17 points in the finals.
The Hotshots guard succeeded longtime teammate and good friend James Yap as three-point shootout when Bolick missed the final ball, finishing a point behind. Philip Paniamogan of NLEX came in third with 14 in the final.
Yap and the other favorites never got going, scoring only 12 points. That opened the way for Simon, Bolick and Paniamogan to make the finals.
Simon, an 18-year veteran, tied Paniamogan for the best score in the eliminations, with Bolick coming in third.
Failing to advance were Matthew Wright of Phoenix Pulse, Rashawn McCarthy of Columbian, and Mike DiGregorio of Blackwater who all scored 15.
Baser Amer of Meralco had 14 while Simon Enciso of Alaska, Kevin Ferrer of Barangay Ginebra, and RR Pogoy of TNT had 11 points each.
Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel only had seven points.