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Rain or Shine rolled to its third win in a row to remain unbeaten and dealt defending champion San Miguel Beer its first loss, 99-84, in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at Mall of Asia Arena.
In a battle between two undefeated teams, the Elasto Painters used a third quarter punch to turn a 44-41 halftime deficit to a 97-80 lead thanks to late explosions from Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, and rookie Maverick Ahanmisi.
“It’s just that things fell into place for us,” said coach Yeng Guiao after Rain or Shine stayed unscathed at 3-0. “We just found a way to play good defense today.”
“The guys put on a good effort, just helping each other out because there’s no one guy who can guard (June Mar) Fajardo. All of our bigs alternated to just make that sacrifice on working him all game long. Our guards were active and the energy was there.”
Raymond Almazan nabbed a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Chan scored all of his 15 points in the las two quarters.
Beau Belga also notched 15 while Norwood got 14 points and seven boards and Ahanmisi, the third overall pick, ended up with 14 in the victory.
“It gives us confidence to just continue on working hard, and try to win a few more games,” said Guiao, whose Painters gained the early lead in the standings despite not having the services of their star guard Paul Lee due to a knee injury.
Alex Cabagnot led San Miguel with 16 points, five boards, and four assists. Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo struggled from the field but still came away with a double-double of 13 markers and 10 rebounds for the Beermen, who slid to 2-1.
The Scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 99 – Almazan 15, Belga 15, Chan 15, Ahanmisi 14, Norwood 14, Ponferada 8, Tiu 8, Ibanes 6, Cruz 3, Quinahan 1, Trollano 0.
SAN MIGUEL 84 – Cabagnot 16, Fajardo 13, Lassiter 12, Santos 12, Espinas 10, Ross 10, Tubid 5, Lutz 4, Reys 2, Arana 0, De Ocampo 0, Heruela 0.
Quarters: 22-22, 41-44, 71-58, 99-84.