Rain or Shine capitalized on Roger Pogoy’s absence as it handed the depleted TNT a 107-86 beatdown to finally break through in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup semifinals, Sunday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The two-way star obeyed the medical staff’s advice to sit out Game 3 after his hamstring injury worsened the last time out.
However, the Tropang 5G extremely missed his on-court presence plenty, as their foes took control early on.
With the Grand Slam seekers’ firepower weakened, the Elasto Painters zoomed to a 30-10 lead late in the first quarter. But it wasn’t until the third quarter that they broke the game wide open as their shots from deep went falling.
Rain or Shine could exhale in relief as they avoided trailing 0-3 in the race-to-4 series by putting together a consistent showing, after suffering heartbreaking defeats in the last two games.
Looking to push their luck, the crew will aim to even things out at two games apiece in Game 4 this Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
(C) PBA Images
“Even after the loss ng last game, I was really happy with the effort,” said head coach Yeng Guiao. “The effort was there. We just lost the game because we just didn’t make enough free throws, and we made one bad decision.”
Anton Asistio came alive at last and starred in the triumph with 24 points, 14 of which he made in the third. He scored nearly half of the Elasto Painters’ 33 points in the said period to build an 87-54 lead entering the fourth.
The Ateneo de Manila product sank a quartet of shots from the outside during that hot streak of his, including a four-pointer off the glass to end the frame.
Caelan Tiongson sustained his fine play with 16 points. Fellow big man Keith Datu came through with 13 points and 10 rebounds, with Santi Santillan and Adrian Nocum chipping in 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
But more than the balanced attack, Rain or Shine’s free throws did the trick as well. After missing 14 in Game 2, the squad went 16-of-18 this time.
(C) PBA Images
“Nandu’n na iyon, I think, the innate confidence that we can hold our own, we can compete with TNT,” Guiao said. “If we can replicate that effort, make our free throws and then play a little smarter, maybe we can win this game.”
Calvin Oftana, on the other hand, had 16 points to lead TNT. Glenn Khobuntin and Simon Enciso were his only support with 12 points apiece.
The Scores:
Rain or Shine 107 – Asistio 24, Tiongson 16, Datu 13, Santillan 12, Nocum 10, Caracut 8, Norwood 6, Malonzo 6, Mamuyac 5, Porter 4, Clarito 3, Ildefonso 0, Escandor 0.
TNT 86 – Oftana 16, Khobuntin 12, Enciso 12, Vosotros 9, Galinato 8, Williams 8, Heading 7, Aurin 4, Erram 4, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Varilla 0, Nieto 0, Ebona 0.
Quarterscores: 33-15, 51-37, 84-57, 107-86.
