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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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26
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
26
2024
Rain or Shine likes its chance for a second straight championship with its intact local lineup reinforced by an import with a better all-around skills than the one that helped the Elasto Painters rule the recent PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Elasto Painters, however, face an early acid test in the Tropang TNT Texters at the resumption of the 2016 PBA Governors Cup Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Dior Lowhorn, a PBA veteran with previous tours of duty with Barangay Ginebra and Globalport, debuts with Rain or Shine versus TNT’s regular import Mario Little and Asian reinforcement Michel Madanly.
The Elasto Painters and the Texters slug it out at 7 p.m.
“Dior Lowhorn is like a Pierre Henderson-Niles who can score. If we won a title with Pierre, much more with Dior. We’re okay with Lowhorn,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
Henderson-Niles had limited offensive skills but showcased defensive and rebounding prowess in helping the E-Painters get past the Barangay Ginebra Kings, San Miguel Beermen and the Alaska Milk Aces in the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.
The E-Painters reigned supreme in the mid-season tourney despite a meager average of 9.6 points by their import.
Lowhorn, meanwhile, normed 30.1 points on 56-percent shooting on top of 11.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists with Ginebra and Globalport.
“I think we’ve got the right import fit for us. We were successful with Henderson-Niles, having a big guy who’s a threat at the post, who can defend bigs. Lowhorn is a bigger threat, at least offensively than Henderson-Niles,” said Guiao of Lowhorn, a seasoned international campaigner at 29.
Lowhorn could only reach the quarterfinals in the 2013 Governors Cup with the Barangay Ginebra Kings who were then badly short-handed minus Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar.
“We didn’t have a full team with Ginebra, so this is the first time I get a full squad. I’m the same old player,” said Lowhorn, a bulky 6-foot-5 player out of Texas Tech and San Francisco U.
Tropang TNT is also a mean team despite injuries to a number of players, including Kelly Williams and Larry Fonacier.
Even with Jayson Castro, Ranidel de Ocampo, Ryan Reyes and Troy Rosario serving duty to the national team, the Texters embarked on a long, serious preparation under coach Jong Uichico who skipped the Gilas training in Europe.
The Texters will have a deep arsenal on the return of the Gilas players who will be teaming up with Little and Madanly, a one-time scoring champ in FIBA Asia Championship.
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