Rain or Shine rallies past Petron for 2-0 semis lead

Jeric Teng and Ryan Arana of Rain or Shine (light) vs Chris Ross of Petron (dark). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines— Rain or Shine rallied from 16 points down to stun Petron Blaze, 103-94, and go up 2-0 in their 2014 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals series Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Sharpshooting guard Jeff Chan tallied 20 points while rookie Raymond Almazan made his presence felt in the fourth quarter, where the Elasto Painters outscored the Boosters, 36-16.

“We just carved out a hard win today,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao. “For a while, I thought it was a lost game but the guys did not give up. It’s a testament to the guys’ desire to win, determination to win and a testament to their mental toughness.”

Chan and Almazan alone outscored Petron Blaze, 19-16, in the final frame with the lanky center, known more for his defense had 10 points in just the last quarter.

“Raymond played like a veteran. Raymond made the big shots, made the big rebounds and the big stops, he looked like he was 250 pounds and he did it when it counted in the semifinals. That’s the championship experience from his Letran days,” Guiao said.

The Boosters, who couldn’t hold on to a 16-point lead they built early in the second quarter and an 85-72 advantage early in the fourth quarter, missed their last seven attempts from the field after the Painters moved ahead, 92-91, with 4:33 left on a Beau Belga drive.

A three-point play by the six-foot-seven Almazan sealed the game, 100-94, with 28.7 ticks left while his breakaway one-handed dunk in the waning seconds punctuated Rain or Shine’s impressive come-back win.

Game 3 is on Saturday still at MOA Arena with ROS looking for a commanding 3-0 advantage.

“2-0 is a good place to be at this point but we cannot celebrate. We still need to win two more. They did a good job stopping the breaks, did a good job slowing down the game- a lot slower than the first game we played against them. So we just prepare on Saturday.”

June Mar Fajardo led the Boosters with 20 points while guard Alex Cabagnot bounced back from a sub-par Game 1 outing with 17 points and three steals. Swingman Chris Lutz struggled anew with measly seven points.