Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Rain or Shine advanced into the knockout stages of the quarterfinals, but not after having to overcome a tough stand by playoff first-timer Blackwater, 95-90, in the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Jeff Chan scored 17 points while JR Quiñahan added 16 points for the third-seeded Elasto Painters, who blew a 15-point lead.
“One game down, one to go. If we wanna make the semifinals we have to play better than we did today. It was a struggle just trying to shake off Blackwater. They had an excellent game,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao.
“I’m not happy with this win even though we moved forward, but If we play this way again we might not make it to the next round,” Guiao added.
The Elite came back behind Carlo Lastimosa, who came just three points shy of matching his career-high with 35 points.
It was Lastimosa’s third 30-point game this conference. Only Terrence Romeo, the GlobalPort star, has as many 30-point games this season.
“It was a great effort by one guy buti na lang he didn’t get enough support from the others. We couldn’t stop him (Lastimosa),” Guiao said.
Down by only five, 93-88, in the final minute, the Elite missed their last five attempts from the field including two sorry misses from Frank Golla and Lastimosa, who fouled out with 51.5 seconds left.