RAIN OR SHINE EXTENDS SERIES WITH OT WIN
Rain or Shine beat out Alaska in an epic battle of wills Thursday night, grinding out a 123-121 win in overtime to force a deciding Game Five in their PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal faceoff at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
AZ Reid, Paul Lee and Beau Belga gave the Elasto Painters tremendous lift in the crunch as they thwarted an Alaska side which just refused to lose even with the ouster on flagrant infraction by their import with over six minutes left in regulation.
The Aces even had a chance to salvage the game but Jayvee Casio misfired a three-point attempt in the closing seconds of overtime play.
Earlier, in a terrible episode for Alaska, Casio slipped on a wet portion of the floor while going for a breakaway layup that could have given the Aces a 123-121 edge with 33.9 ticks left.
In the next play, Belga pulled down a big offensive rebound and made what turned out to be the marginal basket.
“We didn’t imagine this would be this difficult. We’re lucky. We got a break of a lifetime with the slip of Jayvee Casio,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
“The other thing is that I felt that import (Henry Walker) deserved the ejection long ago. He’s a menace to the league. He’s a bully. He deserved the ejection. Now, we focus on Game Five,” Guiao also said.
After splitting the first four games of the series, the Elasto Painters and the Aces fight one last battle Saturday to determine who will advance to the best-of-five Finals against either Talk n Text or San Mig Super Coffee.
The Elasto Painters once again fought back from a loss with big games from Reid, Belga, Lee, Raymond Almazan and Jeff Chan.
Reid came through with game highs of 32 points and 15 rebounds while Belga matched his career-best of 21 points, capped by two crucial baskets in overtime.
Lee also fired away 21, including five points after being decked by Walker on an elbow to the back of his head with 6:24 left in regulation.
Walker was banished from the game for that infraction. He’s also summoned to appear in the Commissioner’s Office for the same offense.
Amazing were the Alaska locals that they put up a good fight even with their import long gone in the game.
Dondon Hontiveros had a great streak of seven triples to topscore for the team with 21 points that was matched by Cyrus Baguio.
Calvin Abueva, Casio and Sonny Thoss contributed double-digit outputs in the game marked by a fierce three-point shootout in the first three quarters.
The E-Painters erected a big lead early on with a 7-of-12 three-point clip in the first quarter then the Aces fought back on Dondon Hontiveros’ 5-of-5 three-pointers in the second period.
The E-Painters led by as many as 19, 43-24, after Belga scored from close range then Jeff Chan nailed his own trey at the start of the second quarter.
But then Hontiveros came out firing in the second period, starring in a searing Alaska that saw the Aces charge to within one, 59-60, at the turn.
They exchanged more three-pointers in the third period with Rain or Shine beginning with a 10-5 run spiked by three treys by Belga and Chan.
On the other end, Hontiveros stretched a perfect three-point shooting to 7-of-7 before getting a first miss. It’s the second best triple streak by anybody in the league next to the 8-of-8 by Allan Caidic and Renren Ritualo. (SB)
The scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 123 – Reid 32, Belga 21, Lee 21, Almazan 14, Chan 11, Arana 8, Norwood 7, Ibanes 3, Cruz 2, Tiu 2, Rodriguez 2.
ALASKA 121 – Hontiveros 21, Baguio 21, Abueva 19, Casio 17, Walker 16, Thoss 11, Jazul 6, Manuel 6, Espinas 4, Dela Cruz 0.
Quarterscores: 38-24, 60-59, 96-91, 115-115, 123-121
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