PBA IMAGES
Rain or Shine assured itself of at least a quarterfinals slot after an impressive 94-86 win over Barangay Ginebra Sunday in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The win tied the Elasto Painters with the San Miguel Beermen and the Alaska Aces in first place with similar 6-1 slates.
“It’s a good place to be but we still have a tough schedule ahead of us,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao as his team goes on a one week layoff before going up against Talk ‘N Text.
Jeff Chan fired 14 of his team-high 19 points in the final frame, on a 4-of-9 shooting behind the arc, to carry the Elasto Painters to their third straight victory.
Jericho Cruz provided the spark off the bench with 16 points while rookie Maverick Ahanmisi impressed with 13 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Rain or Shine came alive in the third quarter and even erected a lead as high as 15, 71-56 early in the fourth period, before Ginebra slowly chucked away the deficit and got to as close as seven in the last two minutes.
With the Painters hanging on to a tight 91-84 lead near the final minute, Chan delivered the dagger — a backbreaking four-point play from the right corner off Japeth Aguilar’s foul with 41.7 seconds remaining — to douse Ginebra’s fiery endgame rally and its three-game winning streak.
The Kings’ twin towers led the fight for the Gin Kings with Aguilar leading the squad with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Greg Slaughter had 19 markers and eight boards.
The scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 94 – Chan 19, Cruz 16, Ahanmisi 13, Belga 9, Norwood 8, Ponferrada 7, Trollano 7, Ibanes 5, Quinahan 5, Tiu 3, Almazan 2, Teng 0.
GINEBRA 86 – Aguilar 22, Slaughter 19, Caguioa 11, Mercado 8, Thompson 7, Tenorio 6, Helterbrand 5, Cruz 4, Marcelo 4, Devance 0, Ellis 0, Mariano 0, Salva 0.
Quarters: 21-18, 39-39, 68-56, 94-86.