Rain or Shine vented its frustrations on an undermanned Converge, 127-110, to bounce back in the PBA On Tour, Friday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Previously unbeaten until stumbling upon Ginebra last Sunday, the Elasto Painters immediately made their intentions of redeeming themselves known by erupting for 41 points in the first quarter while the opposition only mustered 20.
RoS hardly showed any mercy against the nine-man FiberXers all the way to the end as the crew went on to collect their fifth win in six outings.
“We had a good start,” said head coach Yeng Guiao. “Maganda yung umpisa namin. Nakapag-cushion kami nang 20-point lead halftime. Cruise control na lang noong second half. Just wanted the guys to keep running our system.”
Anton Asistio led Rain or Shine with 20 points, spiked by five triples. Shaun Ildefonso backed him up with 19 in his best game of the preseason yet.
Rey Nambatac had 17 points. Gian Mamuyac made 13, while Santi Santillan and Nick Demusis had 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Elasto Painters, who already scored past the century mark, 101-76, with 10 minutes to go.
“Gusto namin ‘yung pace constant, consistent kami roon sa pace ng laro. Di namin masyado iniintindi yung whether we miss or we make shots, we just want them to execute, making good decisions,” said Guiao.
Put to naught by Converge’s loss, meanwhile, were the efforts of Justin Arana, who flirted with a 20-20 as he finished with 25 points and 18 rebounds.
Arana and the FiberXers actually showed some signs of life late in the game when they cut what was once a 31-point lead to just 13, 115-102. But Asistio powered an 8-0 RoS run to put the game out of reach.
Adrian Wong supplied 20 points on five treys. Mike Nieto had 19 points and six rebounds in his first meeting against his former team.
Kevin Racal also had 19 points while Alec Stockton added 14 in the loss, where the team didn’t have the services of guys such as Jeron Teng.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 127 – Asistio 20, Ildefonso 19, Nambatac 17, Mamuyac 13, Santillan 12, Demusis 10, Caracut 9, Clarito 9, Belo 8, Belga 6, Borboran 4.
Converge 110 – Arana 25, Wong 20, Nieto 19, Racal 19, Stockton 14, Zaldivar 5, Ambohot 5, Luib 3, Ebona 0.
Quarterscores: 41-20, 65-46, 98-72, 127-110
