Jeff Chan came in big for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, drilling 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to lead his squad over the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 86-83, Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Rain or Shine opened the first quarter with a 5-0 lead, but the Batang Pier immediately addressed the challenge. GlobalPortwould go on a 13-3 run, capped by back-to-back triples from veteran Alex Cabagnot, to take a 13-8 lead halfway through the quarter. The Elasto Painters responded in kind, holding GlobalPort to only eight more points in the quarter while bagging 15 more points to overtake the Batang Pier before the end of the period, 23-20.
The second quarter saw the Elasto Painters begin to pull away. After outgunning a clumsy Batang Pier earlier in the quarter, Rain or Shine would finally lead by double-digits, 44-33, after a sneaky lay-in from fleet-footed bigman Beau Belga. Rain or Shine remained ahead of the final two minutes of the quarter, building a 49-36 edge at halftime.
Global Part however looked geared to bounce back in the third quarter, finally finding their touch to trim the Elasto Painters’ lead. A triple from Stanley Pringle put Batang Pier within striking distance, 51-54, with four minutes left on the clock. Another triple from Alex Cabagnot gave GlobalPort a taste of the lead half a minute later, 58-56. The two squads traded possession of the lead for the remainder of the quarter, but back-to-back treys from Keith Jensen in the final minute gave GlobalPort the keys to a 70-63 lead at the end of the quarter.
Another shootout broke out early in the fourth quarter, with Rain or Shine erasing their deficit at the end of the previous quarter to steal the lead anew, 73-72, after a Gabe Norwood lay-up with seven minutes left on the clock. Around halfway through the quarter, rookie Jericho Cruz from GlobalPort and fellow rookie Anthony Semerad were both slapped technical fouls after a verbal altercation while boxing each other out underneath the Rain or Shine board. The score at time of the incident was 76-74, in favor of Rain or Shine. With less than two minutes left on the clock, Rain or Shine still had possession of the lead, 84-82. Yancy de Ocampo had the chance to force a deadlock after drawing a foul, but would end up splitting the charities. After getting another stop on the other end, Global Port found Alex Cabagnot for the triple and possession of the lead, but the ball bounced off the rim. Anthony Semerad however managed to corral the miss and call for timeout with 27.1 seconds left in the quarter. Cabagnot however would miss again. Paul Lee managed to sink two free throws in the next few seconds to pad the lead, 86-83. With less than five seconds left on the clock, Batang Pier would manage to find Cabagnot for the trey and the game-saver, but missed. Cabagnot however complain to the referees afterwards, claiming he was fouled by Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood, who had been marking him.
Chan had 2 assists and 2 steals to add to his 16-point performance. He shot 3/5 from the three-point line, all coming off the bench. Beau Belga and Paul Lee contributed 12 and 11 respectively. Veteran Alex Cabagnot lead the youthful GlobalPort team with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Rain or Shine climb to 4-2, joining the Talk ‘n Text Tropang Texters in the third spot, while GlobalPort fall to 3-3.
