Rain or Shine seized sole leadership of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup standings following a 90-84 win over Converge in a battle between two fast-paced teams, Sunday night at the Ynares Center II in Montalban.
The Elasto Painters found themselves staring at a 22-8 deficit to start the match, but turned things around in the deciding chapter toward breaking a tie with the FiberXers and San Miguel to rise as the new no. 1 team with a 7-2 record.
With the result, the Beermen are now sitting at solo second with a 6-2 card while Converge, Magnolia, and NLEX are knotted at third with similar 6-3 slates.
“I saw the effort. It’s really pure effort on our side,” lauded Coach Yeng Guiao of the fight his wards showed. “We were shooting the ball badly, actually.
(C) PBA Images
“Our three-point shooting was really bad. We got a lot of open looks pero hindi namin maipasok. Our free throw shooting was really bad so we needed to make up for it with just sheer effort lang talaga–trabaho lang,” he added.
Five players– all of whom came off the bench–spearheaded the balanced attack, led by Santi Santillan with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Gian Mamuyac supplied 15 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Andre Caracut made 13 points while Mike Malonzo and Caelan Tiongson provided 10 points apiece, with the former adding 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Caracut himself was responsible for putting RoS ahead for good, converting a three-point play to turn a one-point deficit to a 77-75 lead with 8:01 to go.
Malonzo and Nocum would come in to help shortly after, forming a trio that strung together a 9-0 run to widen the gap to 83-75 with 6:19 left.
Mamuyac would come in with key hits of his own to keep the opposition at bay, including a crucial three-pointer with less than three minutes remaining to make it a 90-81 Elasto Painters lead as the door slowly closed on the opposition.
Guiao’s charges are now winners of two straight and will look to keep it going entering the last two games of their elimination round campaign, which will be against the Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra next week in Bahrain.
The crew will take on the unit of Coach LA Tenorio first on December 15 before battling the Kings on the 17th. Both matches will be at the Khalifa Sport City.
“We cannot let the momentum die out. Kung ano ‘yung pwede naming ipanalo, ipapanalo namin lalo papunta kami ng Bahrain,” he said.
“We want to give a good show in Bahrain,” added Guiao as the PBA is set to play in the Gulf country for the first time. “So, hindi namin iintindihin ‘yun kung pasok kami sa Top Four o hindi, basta ipapanalo namin ‘yung mga laro namin.”
(C) PBA Images
Juan Gomez de Liano, on the other hand, finished with a game-high 20 points alongside nine rebounds and six assists to lead a Converge team that missed the services of Justin Arana, who got hurt versus the Hotshots last Friday.
Still, the team of Coach Delta Pineda fought toe-to-toe, with Larry Muyang even giving themselves the 75-74 lead with 8:17 to go in the fourth.
The young big man, however, would incur his sixth and last foul shortly after, leading to Caracut’s three-point play that triggered the decisive run.
Muyang left with 18 points and nine rebounds, and his premature exit was a tough blow for the FiberXers, who failed to extend their winning streak to four.
Alec Stockton made 11 points on 15 shots while Justine Baltazar saw his 10 points and 21 rebounds go down the drain following the defeat.
Converge will conclude its elimination round run against Meralco and the Road Warriors on the 14th and 17th, respectively, hoping to sweep both assignments to strengthen its bid of a Top Four finish entering the playoffs’ first round.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 90 – Santillan 16, Mamuyac 15, Caracut 13, Malonzo 10, Tiongson 10, Nocum 9, Clarito 8, Manaytay 4, Norwood 3, Belga 2, Asistio 0, Pringle 0, Lemetti 0.
Converge 84 – Gomez de Liano 20, Muyang 18, Stockton 11, Baltazar 10, Racal 8, Garcia 6, Eguilos 5, Winston 3, Clemente 2, Javillonar 1, Santos 0, Concepcion 0, Caralipio 0,
Quarterscores: 17-23, 40-39, 65-66, 90-84.
