RAIN or Shine bounced back in a big way from a stinging loss by notching a wire-to-wire 118-112 win over NorthPort Wednesday in the PBA On Tour at the Ynares Arena in Pasig.
Leonard Santillan led the Elasto Painters' balanced scoring with 20 points and they held their ground in the face of the Batang Pier's pressure to rebound from an 88-103 loss to unbeaten leader Magnolia last Saturday in Dumaguete City.
Consequently, Rain or Shine improved its overall record to 7-2 despite the absence of head coach Yeng Guiao, currently on vacation abroad, and chief deputy Mike Buendia as stand-in.
There was simply little NorthPort could do in stopping Rain or Shine, which displayed more teammanship and shot way better than its 31-of-95 (32 percent) clip against Magnolia by going an eye-popping 44-of-80 from the field, including 15-of-35 from deep.
"Wala naman... just continue to do what we were doing, extra work, all of that," was how Anton Asistio started to explain the turnaround from the Hotshots game in the preseason series presented by Arena Plus and sponsored by Bingo Plus.
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"We're taking this pre-season seriously and all the lessons we can learn we're gonna take them," added Asistio, who chipped in 17 points anchored on a 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
"For us it's just continue to keep doing what we were doing. Just take the shots we usually take, keep working on them in practice," Asistio also said.
"I mean, may mga araw na talagang hindi papasok shots mo. But coach Yeng always says na that shouldn't stop you from taking those shots. Kasi iyon ang gusto niya sa team na ito, na when you're open just take the shot."
Andrei Caracut also scored 17 points on top of six assists while Shaun Ildefonso, Gian Mamuyac, Beau Belga and Jewel Ponferrada contributed at least 10 points each with Belga adding eight boards and seven of Rain or Shine's total 34 assists.
What's more, Rain or Shine's defensive schemes on NorthPort top guns Arvin Tolentino and Paul Zamar proved effective enough, enabling the E-Painters to lead by as many as 20 points before easily staving off the Batang Pier's repeated rallies.
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JM Calma's 22 points and 16 rebounds led NorthPort, which also drew 20 points from Tolentino but only on a 6-of-16 field shooting. Zamar was held to only eight points on five shots while Joshua Munzon's nine points were marked by a 4-of-12 clip.
It was Fran Yu who provided the much-needed spark with his 19 points and hook-up with Calma enabling the Batang Pier to trim a 71-91 deficit to just 106-112.
Baskets by Belga, Mark Borboran and Caracut down the stretch proved enough to dispel the NorthPort threat, however. (NC)
