Rain or Shine showed better poise against a more experienced Meralco to hack out a pulsating 85-83 decision for its fourth consecutive win in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Elasto Painters lost control late in the third after Chris Newsome waxed hot from deep and powered a 12-0 run and got into a lengthy drought all the way to the fourth quarter, but got their bearings back just in time to pull off the reversal.
Giving their foes a dose of their own medicine, Coach Yeng Guiao’s men leaned on defense to erase an 81-76 deficit in the final six minutes, with Aaron Fuller, Luis Villegas, and Jhonard Clarito joining hands for the strong closeout.
The troika put together a 9-2 run to take the lead for good with 39.4 seconds left for the eventual scoreline, before buckling down on D anew—and some luck—to come away with the hard-earned win and improve to 4-2 in Group A.
“Ito siguro ang pinaka-masamang laro namin but we found ways to win,” said the champion bench tactician.
