E-PAINTERS END LOSING SPELL
Games on March 31 (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 3 p.m. – Phoenix vs San Miguel Beer 6:15 p.m. – Magnolia vs Ginebra
ANTIPOLO – With the right brushstrokes, Rain or Shine finally stopped the bleeding.
Cranking it up on both ends, the Elasto Painters pulled off a 100-85 breakthrough triumph over Phoenix in yesterday’s PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center here.
Adrian Nocum rifled in 28 points spiked by a sizzling 5-of-9 three-point shooting and formed a 1-2-3 punch with Beau Belga (21) and Jhonard Clarito (19) in lifting ROS out of a four-game slump in the conference.
“We shot a lot better with our free throws, although we still missed a lot, and we played better defense pagdating ng fourth quarter,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, whose charges shot an “improved” 11 of 19 clip from the stripe overall and held the Fuel Masters (1-3) to 19 in the final canto to get the job done.
“Except for the loss to San Miguel, our previous losses were pretty close. We just couldn’t close out games, we couldn’t finish in the endgame. Hirap kami especially
pag nagmimintis sa free throws. We also weren’t getting our desired percentage sa three points.”
With Nocum as spearhead, ROS made 13 triples out of 48 attempts.
Two of Nocum’s long bombs came at the end of an 18-3 blast by the E-Painters that enabled them to wipe out a nine-point deficit and wrest a 47-41 upperhand at the break.
After restart, Belga led a searing bombing that pushed them to a 70-54 tear.
In the fourth, it was Clarito who stepped forward with a nine-point barrage to lead ROS’ efforts to extinguish the Phoenix threat and even widen the gap to as big as 17. “For a while, I thought mauulit iyung last conference na 0-5 (start) kami,” said Guiao, recalling their difficult drive to overturn an initial fivegame slump and reach the quarterfinals at 6-5 in the preceding Commissioner’s Cup. Later, defending champion San Miguel Beer outdueled TNT, 91-89, to keep pole position at 2-0. June Mar Fajardo produced a 15-17 double-double off the bench to spark the Beermen to a follow-up to their 109-97 debut W over ROS two nights before. TNT fell to 2-2. The scores: First Game Rain or Shine 100 – Nocum 28, Belga 21, Clarito 19, Santillan 8, Caracut 6, Belo 5, Mamuyac 4, Borboran 4, Norwood 3, Ildefonso 2, Asistio 0, Demusis 0
Phoenix 85 – Rivero 16, Jazul 11, Tuffin 10, Verano 10, Manganti 7, Mocon 6, Alejandro 6, Muyang 5, Garcia 5, Daves 4, Salado 3, Camacho 2, Lalata 0
Quarterscores: 22-29, 47-41, 78-66, 100-85 Second Game San Miguel 91 – Fajardo 15, Lassiter 12, Trollano 12, Cruz 12, Romeo 9, Enciso 9, Perez 9, Ross 6, Teng 5, Tautuaa 2, Brondial 0
TNT 89 – Castro 20, Pogoy 15, Oftana 14, K. Williams 14, Aurin 10, Heruela 4, B. GanuelasRosser 4, Ebona 4, Khobuntin 2, Ponferrada 2, Reyes 0, Varilla 0, Montalbo 0, M. GanuelasRosser 0
Quarterscores: 25-23, 52-39, 72-70, 91-89