Jay R. Gotera
MANILA — The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters survived a furious endgame charge by the San Miguel Beermen to come away with a 105-97 victory in Game 2 of their best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series Thursday night.
Just like in Tuesday’s Game 1, the Painters piled up a huge lead in the first half only to see it swallowed in the homestretch by the streak-shooting Beermen. This time though, the Painters managed to stand their ground as they evened up the series at 1-1 heading into Saturday’s Game 3.
After failing to score a single point in the series opener, Jeff Chan came firing away with a vengeance, posting 16 points to lead five other Painters in double-digit scoring.
Rookie Don Trollano finished with 13, JR Quinahan had 12 while the comebacking Paul Lee added 11. Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan chimed in 10 markers apiece.
SMB behemoth June Mar Fajardo once again led his team with 38 points and 17 rebounds while Alex Cabagnot scored 24. Marcio Lassiter and Arwin Santos finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Rain or Shine sprinted to a 23-10 lead en route to a 16-point advantage, 31-15, at the end of the first period.
Emotions peaked in the second quarter as SMB’s Chris Ross and ROS’ Chris Tiu got tangled up and exchanged hard tackles resulting in technical fouls for both. SMB’s Ronald Tubid was also whistled for a technical after he tripped Trollano.
Despite the Beermen’s physical plays, the Painters erected a 22-point lead before settling for a 15-point advantage, 49-34, at halftime.
The Painters stayed hot in the third quarter, starting with a 10-to-nothing blast to up their lead to 25 points, 59-34.
But, just like in Game 1, the Beermen refused to bend over in defeat as they fired off a scorching 22-4 run courtesy of huge three-pointers from Cabagnot, Santos, Chris Lutz and Lassiter to cut ROS’ lead to seven.
Rain or Shine was still up by 21 points in the fourth quarter but, again, the Beermen went berserk to cut ROS’ lead to nine, 94-85.
But Chan drilled back-to-back three-pointers to give ROS a 100-87 lead with 2:28 left to play.
The Beermen made their last stand, launching an 8-0 run to cut ROS’ lead to five, 100-95, with over a minute left.
The Painters then made sure the Beermen would not be able to steal the game as they went a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Game Friday: GlobalPort Batang Pier vs. Alaska Aces (Game 3 of best-of-7 semifinals; Series tied 1-1).
