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RAIN OR SHINE OUSTS ALASKA IN RACE FOR TOP 2
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Rain or Shine rookie Jericho Cruz just made the Elasto Painters want to stand before a mirror and admire themselves.
Cruz, the 9th pick overall from Adamson, scored Rain or Shine’s last four points — the go-ahead putback and the insurance fastbreak lay-up in the endgame — to lift the E-Painters past the Alaska Aces, 98-95, Friday night and into second place in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Jericho Cruz played like a veteran,” said Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao, beaming at an early return on investment for his team. “He certainly made us look good picking him up in the rookie draft.”
By dislodging the Aces from the No. 2 spot with their eighth win in 10 games, the E-Painters can advance outright to the semifinals by either of two ways: No. 1 San Miguel Beer (8-1) beats Talk ‘N Text (7-3) later in the evening to grab the other automatic semis slot and give ROS a free pass to the best-of-7 series, or ROS defeats Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (6-4) on Sunday for a clinching ninth victory.
A win by the Tropang Texters over the Beermen will complicate matters and set up a possible 3-way tie among TNT, ROS and Alaska on 8-3 slates. SMB plays winless expansion Blackwater in its last game.
Guiao acknowledges as much.
“We’re on a six-game winning streak, but that streak will be worthless if we lose on Sunday,” Guiao said. “We need a similar game like this one against Ginebra.”
Their success over the Aces was forged only in the final 33 seconds after Paul Lee, 1 of 5 from 3-point range at that point, drilled a way-out triple from top of the key to tie the game, 93-all.
Alaska, whose bid to advance to the semis the first time was stalled by Barangay Ginebra a few days ago, drew a play for a cutting Calvin Abueva, who caught a pass from Jayvee Casio and left Rain or Shine forward Gabe Norwood on his feet for a 95-93 Aces lead, 27.9 seconds to go.
As the E-Painters had designed at the huddle, Jeff Chan got the ball after the inbound pass as the primary option and was fouled by Casio. Chan hit the first free throw but missed the second.
Cruz, fighting to get into rebound position, barreled through Casio, who tripped over backwards on fallen teammate Dondon Hontiveros under the basket, secured the miss and banked in the go-ahead shot, 96-95.
The former Falcon star, who had 10 points in the fourth quarter, then capped his heroics by streaking downcourt following a miss by Alaska forward Eric Menk, harpooned a bullet of an outlet pass from Lee, and made it a 3-point lead with 7/10ths of a second left.
Casio got off a contested corner 3 that hit the back iron at the buzzer.
“We just tried to stay calm all throughout and played catch-up in the end,” said Guiao. “We felt if we could keep it close, we could take our chances later. We had anticipated a hard fight, a close game, and that’s how it turned out to be.”
Lee finished with 19 points despite shooting 30 percent while Cruz added his career-best 16 along with Beau Belga, who also hauled down 12 rebounds.
Calvin Abueva led the Aces with 18 points, 9 in the fourth period where he was practically by himself however as Menk, who had 16, Cyrus Baguio (12), Vic Manuel (11), Sonny Thoss (8) and Dondon Hontiveros combined for 2 points in the last 12 minutes, dooming Alaska’s semifinal aspiration. (WJRHT)
The scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 98 – Lee 19, Cruz Jericho 16, Belga 16, Norwood 12, Chan 8, Quinahan 8, Tiu 5, Almazan 5, Uyloan 3, Tang 3, Arana 2, Ibanes 1, Cruz Jervy 0.
ALASKA 95 – Abueva 18, Menk 16, Baguio 12, Casio 12, Manuel 11, Thoss 8, Hontiveros 6, Dela Cruz 4, Exciminiano 3, Jazul 3, Banchero 2, Eman 0, Dela Rosa 0, Bugia 0.
Quarterscores: 18-23, 42-45, 67-73, 98-95.
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EDITORS' PICK
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