ROS blows lead, rallies to beat NLEX behind Lee

Pau Lee of Rain or Shine (dark) vs Wynne Arboleda of NLEX (light). NUKI SABIO

MANILA, Philippines — Paul Lee scored eight points inside the final two minutes and Rain or Shine salvaged a 95-93 squeaker over NLEX in the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Lee scored 27 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter, where the Elasto Painters blew a double-digit lead and had to come back from nine points down to stretch their winning streak to four games.

“You can call that a great escape. We got a break from Paul’s 3-point shot,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao, referring to Lee’s triple that pulled the Elasto Painters to within one with under 30 seconds left. “We got lucky. They zoned that play and we got a good look.”

“Maybe it’s just our experience. We’re a little bit more experienced than the NLEX team,” added Guiao after his squad improved to 6-2. “We needed to win the game the hard way.”

The 25-year-old Lee had eight points at exactly the last one minute and 32 seconds of the game with his two free throws giving the Painters the lead for good, 94-93, with 21.5 seconds left.

Beau Belga, who was having problems defending Asi Taulava, split his free throws that put ROS by two with 6.1 ticks left before preserving the cushion with a block on Taulava.

“We’re still on our winning run. We recovered from a bad start this conference and what we want to do is finish strong,” said Guiao. “We will make a run at the top two.”

Gabe Norwood recorded 12 points, including a quick layup that narrowed the Road Warriors’ lead to just four with 40 seconds left, before Lee’s deep 3-pointer cut it to one, 93-92, with 28.2 ticks remaining.

NLEX, which slipped to 3-5, clawed back from a 15-point hole with its 3-point shooting and even took an 89-82 lead off a Mark Borboran triple with 3:54 left.

Jonas Villanueva paced the Road Warriors with 22 points while Taulava had 14 points and 16 rebounds.

Rain or Shine played without sharpshooting swingman Jeff Chan (flu),  guard Chris Tiu (hamstring), big man Jervy Cruz (calf) and reserve Jeric Teng (back).

“To have four guys not playing is a big setback to us but we’re not making it as an excuse. We found a way to win,” said Guiao.