Paul Lee-less Rain or Shine foils Webb’s debut as Star head coach

Veterans Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood provided stability for Rain or Shine in a win over Star Wednesday night. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Rain or Shine pulled away late to beat Star, 96-87, in the opener of the 2016 Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Elasto Painters, who are without the injured Paul Lee, went on a 12-2 run inside the final 5:40 of the game to close out the Hotshots, who debuted under new head coach Jason Webb.

“It’s actually an ugly win. We couldn’t get any rhythm in the first half offense and defense. We just tried to be patient with our execution and the patience paid off,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao.

“Paul is going to be out about four weeks. We’ll try to survive without Paul. It’s hard to be without Paul,” Guiao said on missing his star guard, who is sidelined with left knee injury.

Fearless guard Jericho Cruz stepped up in the absence of Lee, scoring seven of his 15 points in the fourth quarter while big man JR Quinahan had a game-high 17 points. Cruz also grabbed five rebounds in almost 32 minutes of play.

Alex Mallari, Mark Barroca and James Yap each scored 15 points for the Hotshots, who couldn’t sustain their strong first half play.