Almazan, Rain or Shine earn morale-boosting win over San Miguel

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

ANTIPOLO — Raymond Almazan knows how big of a confidence-booster Rain or Shine’s 123-119 overtime win over San Miguel was on Sunday.

“It’s big for us to beat a powerhouse team like San Miguel. It was a big break for us,” he said in Filipino.

The former Letran stalwart was huge in the endgame, pouring in eight of his career-high-tying 25 points in the overtime period to finally put the game away.

“All of us are involved in our offense. Our mentality is whoever is open, they can take the shot. If you feel like you can get a shot, go for it. It’s a total team effort,” said Almazan, who also grabbed 14 rebounds.

What mattered more to Almazan was Rain or Shine staying on the top of the standings, improving to 4-1 to grab solo leadership early on in the conference.

And after this huge conquest of the Beermen, the Elasto Painters sure are approaching their next games with a heightened credence.

“Our coaches always tell us that we have a strong team. The question is how we’ll use it and how we can compete,” said Almazan.

“You can see that our lineup has the talent, so especially with how we’re playing now, I can say that we can definitely compete with any team in this league.”

Rain or Shine goes for back-to-back wins on Sunday against GlobalPort.