RAIN or Shine used a huge fourth quarter surge to repeat over Phoenix Super LPG, 122-107, Tuesday and get back on track in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Caelan Tiongson, Andrei Caracut and Gian Mamuyac provided the spark while Adrian Nocum and Aaron Fuller added the fuel for a telling 24-4 run from a 95-97 deficit that gave the Elasto Painters a safe 119-101 lead, only 1:22 left.
In the end, Rain or Shine reprised its 116-99 conquest of the same team the first time they met and, in the process, padded its Group B-leading record to 5-1.
Nocum wound up with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double while Fuller bucked foul trouble to finish with 16 and 11 in leading the E-Painters' bounce-back win from a 112-113 loss to San Miguel Beer last Thursday.
Mamuyac tossed in 14 points he laced with back-to-back triples that added fire to the critical drive while five other Rain or Shine players scored at least 10 points each and helped the team fully break out of a game that had 14 deadlocks and eight lead changes.
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Brandone Francis led all scorers with 31 points but scored only two points in the fourth period when he went just 1-of-6 from the field and Phoenix got outscored by 13 enroute to dropping to a 0-6 slate.
Winning coach Yeng Guiao said fatigue may have caught up with Francis - and it was by design. "We really had a hard time containing the import in the first half. Prolific scorer talaga, eh," he noted.
"So we just tried to work hard on making his shots more difficult, try to make him less efficient, 'cause we know he's going to score anyway," added Guiao.
"We feel that at some point he's gonna get tired, at some point his percentages are gonna go down. 'Yun nga, nangyari ng fourth quarter. Siguro napagod na rin siya."
Jason Perkins notched his own double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds and Kai Ballungay 11 markers for the Fuel Masters, who gamely fought back from 54-64 down to make it a close game up until the early goings of the fourth.
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Four straight points by Perkins and Javee Mocon's short stab even led to a 97-95 Phoenix lead, before layups by Tiongson and Caracut kickstarted Rain or Shine's breakaway. (NC)
The Scores :
RAIN OR SHINE 122 - Nocum 16, Fuller 16, Mamuyac 14, Asistio 13, Caracut 12, Tiongson 12, Lemetti 12, Clarito 10, Ildefonso 6, Santillan 5, Borboran 2, Datu 2, Escandor 2, Belga 0.
PHOENIX 107 - Francis 31, Perkins 22, Ballungay 11, Rivero 9, Garcia 8, Siyud 8, Jazul 4, Muyang 4, Alejandro 3, Tio 2, Mocon 2, Verano 2, Salado 1, Manganti 0, Tuffin 0, Daves 0.
QUARTERS: 31-33, 64-57, 87-85, 122-107
