Rain or Shine, SLR eye No. 2

Sta. Lucia Realty and Rain or Shine press their bids for a strong finish in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup double-round elimination phase as they clash today at the Araneta Coliseum.

Both gun for a share of second place with San Miguel Beer as they mix it up at 7:30 p.m. after Barangay Ginebra and Red Bull collide at 5 p.m. with both teams also looking to make their own push heading into the homestretch of the elims.

Meanwhile, Talk n Text’s Jimmy Alapag was named KFC Accel Player of the Week for the period Nov. 25-30 for back-to-back 20-point showings against Sta. Lucia and San Miguel.

The Tropang Texters won both matches to tie the Realtors and the Elasto Painters at third place at 7-6, just a game behind the second-running Beermen at 8-6.

The Realtors found a pair of unlikely heroes in Kelvin Gregorio and Christian Coronel when they bucked the absence of Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes in toppling the Elasto Painters, 88-85, in their previous match.

“It’s going be a grudge match and we expect a battle,” said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez in their rematch.

“We must play with the same intensity as we did against Alaska, especially on defense. Rain or Shine is a strong team, we’re not taking them lightly though we beat them in our first meeting,” Fernandez said.

Though still far from reaching top form, Williams and Reyes are back and could well provide the Realtors quality minutes the way they did in Sta. Lucia’s 92-80 win over Alaska Milk Friday.

In their absence, Gregorio and Coronel rose to the occasion to help lift the Realtors past the Elasto Painters.

Rain or Shine has recovered from that setback though, pulling off decisive wins over Alaska and Red Bull to wheel back into the upper half of the chart with a good chance of finishing in the Magic Five for an outright quarterfinals or semifinals ticket.

Red Bull is a team hoping to check its skid to avoid early elimination in the tourney.

The Bulls (3-9) are now a game and a half behind the Coca-Cola Tigers (5-8) in the standings.