Elasto Painters rout F Masters for No. 1 fan

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters firmed up their hold of solo second in the PBA Philippine Cup with a 97-82 rout of the Phoenix Fuel Masters at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night, dishing out a solid game they later dedicated to the late ROS matriarch Margaret Yu.

The E- Painters pushed themselves hard all throughout the game and pulled off the dominant win over the Fuel Masters even minus ailing Raymond Almazan and Gabe Norwood.

Rain or Shine improved to 5-2 while Phoenix dropped to joint fifth with Blackwater at 4-4.

“We’re grieving the passing of our No. 1 fan. I told the guys we’ve got to find ways to get this win. Hopefully in getting this victory, we’re able to make her happy,” said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia, dedicating the 15-point win to “Mommy Yu” who passed away a few hours before Christmas eve due to pneumonia. She was 71.

“We lost somebody who’s well- loved by everybody. This conference of ours is for her,” added Garcia.

In their first game after the passing of Mommy Yu, mother of ROS co-owner Raymond Yu, the E-Painters came out sharp and lethal despite coming from a long 16-day break.

“It’s hard to play coming from a lost break. Good thing, our players stayed in shape,” said Garcia.

Driven by their desire to win, the E-Painters put on an A-1 performance, leading by as many as 21 points before eventually handing the Fuel Masters the shattering loss.

Jericho Cruz top scored for ROS with 21 points, including three straight treys in 52 seconds early in the fourth quarter.

Cruz fired five triples in all while the whole ROS team sizzled with 16 threepointers as against Phoenix’s five.

Leading by eight, 53-45, at the half, the E-Painters pressed their bid at the start of the third, unleashing a 16-to-nothing opening run to break the game wide open at 66-45.

Cruz, James Yap and Ronnie Matias starred in their third-quarter rampage. Yap made five of his 10 points in that period while Matias scored all of his eight markers in that frame.

The ROS bench, including Cruz, Yap, Matias, Beau Belga, Mike Tolomia and the returning Chris Tiu, badly clobbered their Phoenix counterpart, 56-28. Almazan was down with a calf injury while Norwood was out due to sore eyes.

Maverick Ahanmisi, Jewel Ponferada, Jeff Chan, Don Trollano and Jay Washington formed the starting unit that carried the E-Painters to a 30-20 lead in the opening quarter.

Going down the drain was Matthew Wright’s huge double-double game with 26 markers and 12 boards.