MONTALBAN — Gabe Norwood refused to begin his farewell tour on a somber tone, coming through in the clutch to help Rain or Shine eventually take down Meralco in overtime, 96-95, in their PBA Season 50 opener Saturday night.
Now on his final conference in the league, the 40-year-old winger rose to clean up Adrian Nocum’s miss with a tough tip-in to tie things up at 90-all with 1.1 seconds left in regulation toward sending the match into an extra five minutes.
Mike Malonzo and Anton Asistio would deliver afterward, nailing back-to-back hits from inside to put them up for good before Caelan Tiongson helped keep the Bolts at bay en route to a successful start to their Philippine Cup campaign.
Norwood finished with 11 points, three rebounds, and a steal in a classic showing that left the fans at the Ynares Center II here in much awe.
(C) PBA Images
“We could not have won this game without him,” offered head coach Yeng Guiao as the decorated wing’s heroics ultimately enabled the Elasto Painters to complete the comeback after being down by as many as 16 points.
But the door, really, wouldn’t be open for Norwood had it not been for the gutsy showing by Tiongson, who led RoS with 23 points–none bigger than the four he knocked down to pull themselves within one, 89-88, with 17.7 ticks left.
A member of the PBA Press Corps’ Season 49 All-Rookie Team, Tiongson also collared 10 rebound, the most crucial of which was securing the missed free throw by Chris Newsome that ultimately led to the game’s biggest play,
Keith Datu supplied 11 points and seven rebounds while Nocum and Andrei Caracut chipped in 10 apiece as five players finished in twin digits in the win.
The Elasto Painters will have a full week to recover and prepare before playing San Miguel on Sunday, October 19, at the same venue at 5:15 p.m.
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Bong Quinto and CJ Cansino, on the other hand, finished with 18 points each and combined for 18 rebounds to lead Meralco, which fell to 0-2 in the conference it ruled not so long ago after suffering yet another narrow loss.
The Bolts were coming off a tough 100-96 loss to Calvin Abueva and Titan Ultra in the season’s second playdate last Wednesday and appeared to be on the to bouncing back after leading 81-65 early in the fourth, only to collapse.
And to blame for such a disappointing loss was their paltry showing in the send chapter as they only scored nine–that, after dropping 37 in the third.
Their struggles continued in OT, with Chris Banchero and Allein Maliksi missing key shots that could’ve at least put them up again, with the latter falling short of nailing the potential game-winning trey as Tiongson got him all covered.
Newsome and Raymond Almazan had 12 each for the Bolts, who will try to break through against Blackwater–a team which opened its season with a rout of Terrafirma–on October 15, Wednesday, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 96 – Tiongson 23, Datu 11, Norwood 11, Caracut 10, Nocum 10, Lemetti 9, Asistio 6, Mamuyac 5, Ildefonso 5, Malonzo 4, Clarito 2, Porter 0, Belga 0.
Meralco 95 – Quinto 18, Cansino 18, Almazan 12, Newsome 12, Banchero 9, Bates 8, Black 6, Caram 5, Hodge 5, Maliksi 2, Pascual 0.
Quarterscores: 24-28, 50-44, 70-81, 90-90, 96-95 (OT).
