Guiao to his import: Play smarter, keep away from foul trouble

RAIN OR SHINE beanpole Bruno Sundox gets hacked on his way to the hoop by Air21 big man Rob Reyes. AUGUST DELA CRUZ –

MANILA, Philippines — If the game went into overtime on Wednesday, Rain or Shine might have ended up on the losing end with its import already helpless on the bench.

So head coach Yeng Guiao was relieved the Elastopainters kept fighting to carve out a 99-97 victory over Air21. He knows, however, that it’s not going to be enough at one point if import Bruno Sundov would keep on getting into foul trouble.

“If it would’ve gone into overtime, it would be difficult to win this game. We just kept fighting back even if the import wasn’t able to help us much during the game,” said Guiao.

The seven-foot-three center finished with a team-best 17 points, along with five rebounds in 27 minutes. He was outmatched by Air21’s Michael Dunigan who had 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists..

“We got really lucky in this game, our import was in foul trouble for most of the second half. Played very little minutes and fouled out,” said Guiao.

“We were really having troubles matching up their import especially in the low post,” added Guiao.

But it is Sundov’s tendency to get into foul trouble early that is Guiao’s biggest concern.

“I think it’s also going to be a big lesson for the import to just play a little smarter keeping away from those fouls,” he said.

Guiao said being on the upper half of the standings at 3-1 early in the conference is a good feeling to build on.

“Kung di ka magiisip na magaling ka, madaming mas gagaling sayo. It’s a big win in terms of bringing us back into the upper half of the standings,” Guiao said.

“But you wanna take anything in this league for granted. One night you’re playing well, the next night you’re playing badly,” he added.