New Painters’ color has Guiao tickled pink

FILE–Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIREr.net

About two weeks ago, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao was playing it coy when the Inquirer asked if he finally has the Elasto Painters squad he had long dreamed of.

“It’s pretty close,” he said.

His charges made sure he was going to give a better response on Tuesday night, when they whipped Blackwater, 110-97, in the PBA Governors’ Cup.

“This is certainly an upgrade,” he said on the heels of the triumph at Smart Araneta Coliseum that also finally got Group B play of the tournament going.

“If our calculations are right that we have truly upgraded, on top of reaching the semifinals the last time, and we have a good import, I think we can contend—and give good teams a run for their money,” he went on.

Aaron Fuller, who also played for Guiao at NLEX in the past, showed the way with 24 points and 19 rebounds. Rookies Caelan Tiongson and Felix Lemetti also turned heads in their debut with their twin-digit scores that helped the Elasto Painters to leads of as many as 21 points.

“I’m very happy with the way we shared the ball and I’m also happy with the performance of our rookies. Caelan played well, Felix (Lemetti) played well, and for the short time Luis (Villegas) played, he also did well,” Guiao said.

Tiongson, the seventh overall pick who was practically retired from basketball two years ago, had 15 points, five rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes. Lemetti, on the other hand, chipped in 11 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists—their outputs on Tuesday night way better than any of Guiao’s old reliables save for Santi Santillan.

‘Great upside’

And Guiao feels the pair of newcomers are only going to be better as the games plod along.

“I think there’s great upside for both of them, which is also why I feel pretty positive about our chances in this conference,” the champion coach added.

Blackwater got the goods from second overall pick Sedrick Barefield, who had 18 points and four rebounds. James Kwekuteye chipped in 17 while Bradwyn Guinto and Troy Rosario both had at least 10 points each in the losing effort that hardly featured import Ricky Ledo.

Ledo just had 12 points, eight of which coming only in the final period, when the Bossing were desperately trying to mount a comeback.

Rain or Shine will try to annex a second-straight win against Justin Brownlee and the rejigged Barangay Ginebra this Saturday in Candon, Ilocos Sur.

Blackwater, meanwhile, hopes to dodge an early 0-2 hole when it tackles NLEX this Thursday at the Big Dome. INQ