Painters claim playoff spot, beat Batang Pier

Rain or Shine shrugged off a poor first-half shooting, cranking up in the second half as the Elasto Painters thwarted the Globalport Batang Pier, 116-94, for an outright quarterfinals entry in the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum Tuesday night.

Finding a good rhythm in their return from the halftime break, the E-Painters pummeled and pounded the Batang Pier in the last two quarters to joined Meralco, Alaska Milk, San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra in an early Final Four passage.

Assured of a quarters berth with a 6-4 win-loss mark, the E-Painters will still go all-out versus the Blackwater Elite on Sunday in their hope to land in the Top Six.

With a seventh straight loss and eighth in 10 games in all, Globalport, meanwhile, has no more chance of avoiding a last-place windup even if it wins its last game against Phoenix on Friday.

Jeff Chan led ROS’ second-half turnaround, topscoring for the team with 18 markers, including four three-pointers.

 Charlo also came through with 18 markers that went with 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists. Guards Paul Lee, Chris Tiu and Jericho Cruz were the other ROS players who finished with double-digit outputs.

Throwing clunkers, Rain or Shine played catch-up basketball most of the first half.

Charlo was 0-of-4 from the three-point area, 3-of-5 from the two-point zone and 1-of-2 from the stripe as they trailed by five, 44-49, at the half.

After a long, lonely chase, the E-Painters finally tasted the lead at 52-51 in the8:50 mark of the third on Charlo’s first three-point conversion.

Two free throws by Chris Tiu gave Rain or Shine a first double-digit spread at 70-59, and then the E-Painters played steadily all the way to the crucial win.

The Batang Pier led by as many as 10, 45-35, before sitting on a five-point halftime cushion on a much better shooting.

Shawn Taggart (13 points) and Romeo Terrence (11) both had had double-digit outputs by halftime.

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