Purefoods knew that it was time to wake up and let NLEX feel the brunt of it all.

Starting out 1-3 and needing to string wins in a hurry, the defending champion Star Hotshots finally displayed their Grand Slam form of last season and ripped the Road Warriors, 92-76 on Friday night in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Peter June Simon and James Yap were once again deadly, and Joe Devance turned in a superlative offensive effort for the Hotshots, who led by as big as 18 points several times to rise to 2-3 overall and serve notice of their return to form.

“If there was a must-win (game), that was certainly it for us,” Purefoods coach Tim Cone said. “The guys played like they really wanted to win tonight. They made their playing do the talking.” Simon finished with 20 points and Yap and Devance had 19 each and the Road Warriors never found the antidote for the trio all night long as NLEX took a third straight defeat smack in the mouth to drop to 2-4 overall.

“Tonight, I thought our first and second groups did a good job at being intense,” Cone continued. “The boys simply responded tonight. We shot better, shot at a better percentage and I thought that a lot of the shots that we had came from our good rhythm.

“Hopefully, this is a harbinger for us,” said Cone. “We will go from here. We will try to see if we can get (a win on) the next one, and go from there.” Simon scored nine points in the first period and Devance 10 and the Hotshots closed out the quarter sitting on a 25-18 lead that they preserved the rest of the way.

“PJ (Simon) was in rhythm tonight. He was getting open looks and when he gets them, he’s such a dead shot that I feel very comfortable in him,” said Cone.

Yap, the former two-time MVP who is just in his second game back from a hamstring injury, scored seven of his total in the second and had six in the fourth.

Asi Taulava, the 41-year-old former MVP, worked his butt out in trying to rally the Road Warriors. But even his 21-point, 16-rebound effort fell short as his supporting cast was starved by the Purefoods defense.

Mac Cardona, who came into the game averaging a league-leading 18 points a contest, was held down to just 11 with Nino Canaleta laying a big fat egg in close to 17 minutes of action.

Meanwhile, Alaska continued to punish the opposition with its run-to-the-ground style, scoring a 69-56 victory over rookie squad Blackwater in the first game.

The Aces, getting 13 points and 18 rebounds from third year power forward Calvin Abueva, stormed to their sixth straight victory and kept the Elite winless, also in six games.

Eric Menk, the former MVP, got the playing time in the absence of Sonny Thoss and scattered 14 points that went with 12 rebounds even as Vic Manuel scored 10.

The veteran Larry Rodriguez was the only man in twin digits for the Elite with 10.

Despite being at 6-0, Alaska coach Alex Compton refuses to have the record go to his players’ heads.

“It’s nice that we have this kind of a start,” Compton said. “But for me, the most important thing is how we finish (this tournament). We can win early and lose late and that would be a very bad thing.” On Saturday, Rain or Shine will be shooting to stay in the upper half of the standings when the Elasto Painters battle Meralco in a road game slated at the University of Southeast Philippines gym in Davao City.