Arwind Santos of Petron (light) vs ryan Arana of Rain or Shine (dark). Nuki Sabio/PBA
MANILA, Philippines —Arwind Santos fueled Petron Blaze’s hot start that propelled them to a 106-73 win in game 3 over Rain or Shine Saturday in the 2014 PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup semifinals.
The Boosters, who dodged a dangerous 0-3 hole in this best-of-seven series, fired open three-pointers at will early on, making eight triples in just the first half, and built a whopping 27-point before intermission.
“It feels good to get our first win this series. I thought we played well in the second game but we didn’t finish it off. We made adjustment and I’m just happy the guys adjusted. We knew what to do,” said head coach Gee Abanilla.
Santos, the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player, poured all but five of his 22 points in the first half to lead Petron Blaze, which still trails Rain or Shine 1-2.
Santos accounted for 3 of Petron Blaze’s 10 triples including one from deep at the last second of the shotclock to further frustrate Rain or Shine with 2:56 in in the third.
He also hauled 18 points in a phenomenal performance, while Alex Cabagnot, June Mar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz added 15, 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively
The Boosters have chance to tie the semifinals match-up on Monday in game 4 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Rain or Shine, which fell to a 2-15 deficit at the start and never recovered, tried to rally in the third and early fourth quarter but couldn’t come nearer than 13.
To compound their woes, the Elastopainters fiery mentor Yeng Guiao was thrown out for his second technical infraction with still more than a minute left in the third.
Beau Belga had 14 points, JR Quinahan and Raymond Almazan 10 for Rain or Shine, which didn’t get significant numbers from key players Paul Lee or Jeff Chan.
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