Quiñahan ejection ‘fired up’ Rain or Shine, says coach Guiao

MANILA, Philippines—Turns out, JR Quiñahan’s ejection early in the third quarter was a blessing in disguise.

Rain or Shine had nothing going for them as it stared at what seemed to be an insurmountable deficit in the third period of its game with Meralco before a scuffle following Quiñahan’s hard hack at the driving Sol Mercado somehow sparked the Elasto Painters’ rally.

“What fired us up was the JR incident,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao, whose team stayed in third place at 8-3 following the come-from-behind 102-98 win in overtime during the 38th PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday. “We drew a lot of energy and motivation from that.”

“Definitely (it fired us up),” echoed Gabe Norwood, who scored 15 points, including the go-ahead runner that put his team up, 99-98, with only 29.3 ticks left.

“It was a physical game from the beginning, JR is a big key for us—we just had to pick it up for him,” Norwood told INQUIRER.net.

ROS trailed, 57-30, at the 8:06 mark of the third quarter before a 30-8 blast following Quiñahan’s ejection, which pulled the Painters to within five, 60-65, entering the final frame, with all the momentum on their side.

“We were frustrated in the beginning especially at the offensive end; we didn’t get the calls but it fell for us in time,” added Guiao.

Jeff Chan had a team-high 25, highlighted by his 14-point outburst in the third period while Beau Belga also added 15 points, five in overtime.

“We had games like these that we came back from 20-point deficits. We stayed positive and one thing that’s great about our team is we never point fingers, it’s always about the team,” said Norwood.