Rain or Shine dumps Alaska in Hontiveros, dela Cruz farewell

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ANTIPOLO—Rain or Shine put a damper on a couple of retirements after thrashing Alaska, 112-82, in the 2017 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday at Ynares Sports Center here.

The Elasto Painters improved to 6-4 to strengthened their bid for the fourth spot in the standings while the Aces, who saw Dondon Hontiveros and Tony Dela Cruz play their final games, ended their season with a 3-8 card.

Rain or Shine broke the game wide open with a big second quarter run and a definitive 15-0 run to start the fourth capped by a jumper by Ronnie Matias for a 98-61 lead made sure Alaska stayed down for the count. 

“I just told the players that we will go up against Alaska and that they should play that they want to win,” said ROS head coach Caloy Garcia.

“We’re lucky that (Sonny) Thoss, Calvin (Abueva), and (Chris) Banchero didn’t play today but I still told my team to play at a hundred percent.”

J’Nathan Bullock topscored for the Elasto Painters with 14 points while Chris Tiu filled up the stat sheets with nine points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals. 

LaDontae Henton put up a game-high 20 points to lead Alaska.