RAIN OR SHINE ON A ROLL
With just 10 healthy players, Rain or Shine outshone Purefoods Star, 83-74, and stayed in the thick of the fight for an outright semifinal entry in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
TY Tang and Jonathan Uyloan made their presence felt playing on borrowed time, striking with much hustle efforts to help the Elasto Painters pull one over the Purefoods side that outclassed them in two Finals showdowns last season.
Tang and Uyloan combined for 20 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and five assists, and the whole RoS team outworked the reigning PBA four-peat champ to nail a fifth straight win and seventh in nine games in all.
“I couldn’t give the guys enough credit tonight,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
“I had my fear of failing to sustain the energy and the pace of the game but the guys pushed themselves to the limit,” Guiao also said. “We kept the game fast. And it worked that we were aggressive on defense and we were challenging their shots.”
Minus Jeff Chan, Chris Tiu, Jeric Teng and Jervy Cruz, the remaining healthy RoS players watched each other’s back and pushed hard one another to stop Purefoods’ own run.
The Hotshots dropped to 5-4 at joint fifth with the Barangay Ginebra Kings, now just half-game ahead of the seventh-running GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-5) and a game in front of the eighth-running Meralco Bolts (4-5).
Purefoods is in danger of missing the Top Six and a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
Rain or Shine, meanwhile, sneaks into the Top Two and gain outright semifinals passage if it wins its last two games against Alaska and Barangay Ginebra.
Tournament format calls for the Top Two to automatically make the semis and the next four to clinch twice-to-beat advantage versus Teams 7-10 in the quarterfinals.
“The guys wanted to win this game badly,” said Guiao, making special mention of Tang, Uyloan and rookie Jericho Cruz.
“They may be small guys. They may be unknowns but they make their presence felt,” Guiao said.
Tang came through with 11 points, four rebounds and one assist, including at least a couple of big play in the crunch after surviving a nasty fall early in the fourth.
The former La Salle chief playmaker got a big offensive rebound and knocked in a put-back of his own miss as Rain or Shine stopped the momentum of Purefoods’ searing endgame fightback.
Tang was able to come back and deliver big plays as he survived a fall after being accidentally undercut by PJ Simon.
Uyloan played as big, striking with nine points, six steals, five rebounds and four steals.
He fired a trey to seal the deal at 80-72 with 1:12 left to play. (SB)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
