PBA IMAGES
RAIN OR SHINE ran at every chance on Tuesday night and brought hulking Barangay Ginebra to its knees, leading big early to score an impressive 102-89 victory and sweep the Gin Kings out of the quarterfinals of the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Jeff Chan hit his first three triple tries and cranked up Rain or Shine’s offensive machine, and the Elasto Painters pounded the floor whenever they could to make the Final Four for the ninth straight time.
“I guess it was our speed,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao told reporters after tying a mark set by Alaska from 1995-2000. “We kept emphasizing to the guys (Painters) that Ginebra cannot run with us, and that we cannot beat them on a half court game.”
The second of those Chan triples opened up a 6-4 lead and the Painters never trailed again, opening up leads of as large as 15 points in the third quarter to win pulling away and show the Gin Kings to another early vacation.
Alaska gutted out an 85-81 decision of defending champion Tropang TNT later in the night to take their best-of-three series to a deciding game on Friday.
“I’m just so happy with the way we defended,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said. “TNT had 81 points (tonight) and I sure hope that we can hold them again to 81 on Friday.”
Rain or Shine became the second team to march on to the semifinals after No. 2 Meralco and will thus await the winner of the Star-San Miguel Beer series, which will be decided today at 7 p.m. also at the Big Dome floor.
The scores:
First Game
RAIN OR SHINE 102—Chan 22, Quinahan 21, Ahanmisi 13, Henderson-Niles 10, Almazan 6, Norwood 6, Belga 5, Cruz 5, Tiu 5, Teng 4, Lee 3, Ponferada 2, Ibanes 0.
GINEBRA 89—Jeffers 27, Aguilar 14, Slaughter 14, Tenorio 11, Caguioa 120, Devance 7, ellis 4, Thompson 2, Helterbrand 0, Marcelo 0, Mercado 0.
Quarters: 31-21, 50-44, 77-64, 102-89
Second Game
ALASKA 85—Dozier 18, Thoss 15, Abueva 15, Jazul 10, Dela Cruz 9, Baguio 7, Manuel 4, Hontiveros 3, Banchero 2, Exciminiano 2, Baclao 0, Menk 0.
TROPANG TNT 81—Simon 31, Castro 17, De Ocampo 15, Rosario 8, Tautuaa 7, Ababou 3, Fonacier 0, Rosser 0, Reyes R. 0, Reyes J. 0, Williams 0.
Quarters: 20-16, 40-38, 67-63, 85-81