Rain or Shine trounces Star, stays alive for a playoff spot

Rain or Shine managed to hang on to its playoff hopes and fended off Star, 108-97, in the PBA Governors’ Cup Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Elasto Painters joined a tight fifth seed, tying NLEX and Phoenix with 5-6 records while the Hotshots, who are already out of the playoff picture, dropped to 2-9.

Elasto Painters head coach Yeng Guiao was relieved they were able to pick up a win as the elimination round nears its end, but he knows there’s still a long way to go.

“We’re in survival mode,” said Guiao whose team could drop to as low as eight if everything’s said and done in the preliminaries. “If we win, we get lucky enough maybe on to the next step, this time this is really far off from where we want to be this conference, and from where we were the last nine conferences.”

Import Joshua Dollard led Rain or Shine with 27 points while Beau Belga added 14.

Joel Wright had 27 points to pace the Hotshots.