PBA: Rain or Shine routs Ginebra, sets up semis clash with Powerade

MANILA, Philippines—Rain or Shine banked on a blistering opening quarter and never looked back as it hammered out a 106-91 drubbing of Barangay Ginebra Wednesday night to barge into the semifinals of the 37th PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City.

The Elasto Painters, who set up an unlikely clash with the Powerade Tigers in a best-of-seven semis, fired on all cylinders en route to a 41-point explosion in the first period.

“Our offense just takes care of itself. Fortunately, our shots were going in,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao.

Sharpshooting swingman Jeff Chan continued his stellar play as he led the way with 22 points on eight-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with five assists.

“I feel that this is our time to be in the finals,” said Chan, who had four triples in the game.

Gabe Norwood had a quiet but effective outing with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Ronjay Buenafe had 13 markers.

Second overall pick Paul Lee only shot eight points but put the finishing touches of the game with five straight points capped by a three-point play completion that upped Rain or Shine’s spread to 23, 104-81, with 2:03 left.

Mike Cortez paced the Gin Kings with 17 points, 12 of which coming from beyond-the-arc.

Ginebra managed to trim Rain or Shine’s deficit to 14 twice in the final period before the Elasto Painters went on a 9-0 blitz to seal the win.