RAIN or Shine banked on a strong start and leaned on an even stronger finish to rout TnT Katropa,105-73, and register its first winning streak in the PBA Governors Cup Sunday night.
The Elasto Painters raced to an early 30-14 lead and stretched it to as large as 21 points even before the first half was over.
While the Katropa made a huge effort to trim the gap in the third quarter, the Elasto Painters wouldn’t just cool down from the floor, coming through with a big scoring run ending the period and early in the fourth to clinch the wire-to-wire victory at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
It was the second straight win for Rain or Shine since J’Nathan Bullock came over as replacement import for JD Weatherspoon and the trade of Jeff Chan and Mike Tolomia for Mark Borboran and Ed Daquioag, respectively.
Rain or Shine now holds a 3-2 record.
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“I think everybody was on the same page today that’s why we played well,” said coach Caloy Garcia in praising the Elasto Painters, who shot a total of 16 three pointers, including 3 of 5 from Borboran.
TnT’s second loss in four outings spoiled the debut of new TnT import Glen Rice Jr. who had a sluggish start in his PBA debut.
While the son of NBA great and namesake Glenn Rice finished with 19 points, he actually began the game by going 1 of 9 from the field and held to just three points in the first two quarters.
But the 26-year-old Georgia Tech alum caught fire in the third period when he scored 12 points and helped the Katropa come within 12 points.
The Elasto Painters though, withstood the storm as Chris Tiu, Jericho Cruz, and Jewel Ponferada teamed up in a strong finishing kick for the team.
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Rain or Shine’s biggest lead was at 99-66.
Bullock submitted double-double figures of 20 points and 14 rebounds, Cruz added 14 including eight in the fourth period, while Ponferada and Borboran had 12 and 11, respectively.
But Garcia reserved his complement to veteran big man Beau Belga, who only had five points, but grabbed 10 rebounds and three assists while providing leadership inside the floor in the absence of guard and Gilas Pilipinas stalwart Gabe Norwood.
“I think Beau wanted to play well today because alam niya may kasalanan siya sa team,” said Garcia of the burly 6-foot-6center, whose one-game suspension was withheld by the league for the next game when Norwood and Raymund Almazan are expected to come back from their national team duties.
“So he really stepped up today.”
Ranidel de Ocampo was the best local player for the Katropa with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
