The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters have now cemented their status as the top team in the 2018 Commissioner’s Cup eliminations by overcoming the Meralco Bolts’ challenge in overtime, 106-99, Sunday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Elasto Painters will now head into the quarterfinals as the number one team, and will have the coveted twice-to-beat advantage on their side. Moreover, Rain or Shine have now won their fourth straight overtime game this tilt.
The Bolts, on the other hand, absorbed their second straight loss this week and dropped to 7-4. Given this, their aspirations of having a win-once incentive are now out the window.
“Another overtime game for us, I think it’s the fourth overtime we played in this conference, we won all four. I’m happy about it,” said Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia. “But it’s still a long way for this team. Marami pa ring turnovers.”
“But we can still get better, even though we’re winning. It’s good to be number one right now, we secured but we don’t know who we’re playing. It’s the first time we have the twice-to-beat, hopefully tuloy-tuloy ito,” Garcia added.
Reggie Johnson led the Elasto Painters with 21 points and 18 rebounds. Maverick Ahanmisi was all around with 20 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, while Chris Tiu chimed in 13 markers, five dimes, and four boards.
It was expected that the Elasto Painters would bag another W thanks to their hot shooting performance in the first half, where their whopping 11 three-pointers gave them a 64-51 advantage at the break.
But the Bolts slowly chipped away the deficit come the second half. With the tides turning in their favor, Meralco were able to close in by a solitary point, 79-80, after a Chris Newsome triple late in the third quarter.
Eventually, the Bolts were able to taste the lead, 94-92, as Newsome sank a mid-range jumper with 6:56 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Tiu and Baser Amer exchanged buckets later on to force a 96-all deadlock with 2:24 on the clock. Both teams tried to break the tie, but the baskets appeared to have lids, until the buzzer sounded and forced overtime.
Rain or Shine ran first in OT and had a four-point lead, 102-98, courtesy of a Tiu split with 1:29 to go. The Bolts tried to fight back in the waning seconds, but Newsome’s three from the corner with 26 ticks left went overcooked.
Another split by Tiu and an Ed Daquiaog triple with 12.7 seconds left to play were enough for RoS to seal the deal.
Daquioag had 11 markers in the win.
Newsome led the Bolts with 21 points and 11 assists with seven rebounds. Import Arinze Onuaku produced 20 points and 11 rebounds with four steals, while Amer also had a double-double of 19 points and 10 dimes.
Rain or Shine will look to head into the quarters with more momentum as they face the TNT Katropa on July 7, Saturday, 4:30 PM still at the Big Dome.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 106 – Johnson 21, Ahanmisi 20, Tiu 13, Daquioag 11, Almazan 9, Norwood 9, Yap 7, Nambatac 5, Belga 5, Ponferada 4, Casino 2, Torres 0, Washington 0.
Meralco 99 – Newsome 21, Onuaku 20, Amer 19, De Ocampo 10, Canaleta 9, Hodge 7, Caram 4, Dillinger 3, Lanete 3, Tolomia 3, Hugnatan 0.
Quarterscores: 28-27, 64-51, 84-81, 96-96, 106-99.
