The hounded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters gutted it out in the final minutes to ward off a pesky Meralco Bolts side and collect their second win in a row, 90-84, Friday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Elasto Painters have now improved to 4-3, while the Bolts have gone to 2-5 as they dropped their fifth straight game.
“It was more of a challenge siguro on my side to try and get these players motivated,” said Rain in Shine head coach Caloy Garcia. “Like I said, I made a mistake when we played Kia na hindi sila motivated at that time.
“But we’re lucky as well that Kia is getting better. The way they played against TNT the other way, it seems like they’re also on the right path so ang sa’kin lang, I just have to think more of the team,” he added.
Chris Tiu led the Elasto Painters with 17 points and eight assists, an outing highlighted by his takeover in the game’s final three minutes, where he scored five on their 7-0 run that broke a 79-all deadlock — the run that eventually sealed the win.
Ed Daquiaog finished with 16 points, and under-fire players Raymond Almazan and Beau Belga made their presence felt strongly in the win — the former had six points and seven rebounds, while the latter had 13 markers and 13 boards.
“We all know going into this game na may lumabas na issue regarding those three players but sinabi ko nga sa mga players, we just have to be professional about it and put the effort every time we play,” said Garcia. “Kasi yun nga, ang nagbabayad naman talaga sa salary nila yung owners and that’s the only way that we can repay them. And nakakatawa lang kasi hindi naman sila nagpapa-trade eh, that’s the only thing na na-shock ako.”
James Yap had 11 points to round up Rain or Shine’s scoring leaders.
Niño Cañaleta led the Bolts with 24 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Reynel Hugnatan was his only back-up with 13 points along with four boards and three dimes, while Chris Newsome had 10 caroms and scored five.
Hugnatan was just three points away from entering the elite 5,000-point club.
Rain or Shine will look to win their third straight match versus the Magnolia Hotshots on February 10, Saturday, 5:00 PM in Pangasinan. Meralco will aim to end their skid versus the NLEX Road Warriors next Friday, February 9, 7:00 PM at Cuneta Astrodome.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 90 — Tiu 18, Daquioag 16, Belga 13, Yap 13, Ahanmisi 9, Almazan 6, Ponferrada 6, Borboran 4, Norwood 3, Cruz 2, Nambatac 2, King 0.
Meralco 84 — Canaleta 24, Hugnatan 13, Amer 8, Lanete 8, Dillinger 7, Newsome 5, Baracael 4, Caram 4, Faundo 4, Hodge 4, Tolomia 3, Ballesteros 0, Salva 0.
Quarterscores: 26-21, 45-39, 65-66, 90-84.
