MANILA: Denzel Bowles played one of the best games of his PBA career for Purefoods on Wednesday night, but coach Tim Cone doesn’t want to see any of that — as much as possible — again in the Star Hotshots’ Final Four showdown with Talk ‘N Text.

Bowles scored 49 points and had 10 rebounds and the defending champion Hotshots used a formidable lead early to hold off the hard-finishing Tropang Texters, 100-94, for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Commissioner’s Cup series at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

The former Best Import tossed in 29 of his total in the first two quarters and was clearly huffing and puffing when the waning minutes came as his local support crew led by former two-time MVP James Yap helped seal the deal for Purefoods.

“We can’t get over Denzel-reliant,” Cone told reporters. “He’s great, but he can’t do that for five games.”

Purefoods led, 62-41 early in the third before the Tropang Texters methodically whittled that down to as little as 83-84 going into the final 8:40 after a booming three-pointer coming from Ranidel De Ocampo.

Yap was the only other player who finished in twin digits for Cone, shooting five of his 18 inside the final 6:34 that helped fend off the game Tropang Texters, who also were at the losing end of at least a couple of bum calls in the endgame.

Purefoods led from start to finish, taking a 33-17 lead at the end of the first period and a 15-point advantage at the half, which the Hotshots used to cushion the impact of several Talk ‘N Text rallies.

“You can’t hold a good team (Talk ‘N Text) down,” Cone said. “We certainly couldn’t hold them back. They (Texters) just got themselves into too much of a hole.”

The second game of this side of the semifinals is scheduled for Monday as the league takes a break in observance of the Lenten season.

Rain or Shine, which leads Meralco in the other half of the Final Four, guns for a 2-0 lead against the Bolts when action resumes on Easter Sunday also at the storied Big Dome floor.

Talk ‘N Text was a lousy sight as far as the first two periods went, as import Ivan Johnson struggled to shoot just five with the loaded Texters held down to 36 points after two quarters.

But things started to pick up for the Texters in the third as Johnson hit 16 points.

Purefoods allowed the Texters to come within 70-74 with just over a minute left in the third quarter before closing out the period with a 7-0 spurt that restored a handsome 11-point lead entering the fourth.

Jason Castro finished with 19 points but had at least two big errors in the endgame for Talk ‘N Text, which also got 15 and 13 rebounds from Ranidel De Ocampo.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Commissioner suspended Class A referee Art Herrera for five games for making a serious error during Game 1 of the Rain or Shine-Meralco series on Tuesday night.

Herrera was the official that counted a three-point shot by Gabe Norwood which came so close to the 24-second shotclock. He later on nullified it seconds later to the consternation of the Rain or Shine bench.

The league said that Herrera committed an “error in mechanics and judgment in making (that) call.”

Herrera became the second suspended game official in less than a week following an unnamed referee who worked the Rain or Shine-Ginebra quarterfinal match last Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

One of the three referees who officiated the 92-91 Rain or Shine win was canned for the rest of the conference for failing to call a 24-second violation on Ginebra which led to Jeff Chan’s game-winning breakaway layup with under five seconds left.

The PBA, though, did not name that particular referee but was very open in naming Herrera.