MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine bounced back from a tough loss with an endgame fury dealing Meralco Bolts a 91-82 beating Saturday night in the Phoenix-PBA On Tour at the Puerto Princesa Coliseum in Palawan.
Rain or Shine, which lost an 83-81 heartbreaker to Alaska last week, turned on the heat in the final five minutes of the game to finally barge into the win column.
The Bolts enjoyed its last lead of the game, 79-74, on an Eric Dawson running jumper in the 5:43 mark of the fourth period before the Elasto Painters shut them down.
A Ronnie Matias triple ignited a 17-0 run in the next five minutes as Rain or Shine suddenly turned the tight game into a rout. Ryan Araña hit the nail in Meralco’s coffin with exactly one minute left giving the Elasto Painters an insurmountable 91-79 lead.
Rain or Shine improved to 1-1 while Meralco dropped its second straight to go down to 1-2.
The scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 91 — Sundov 20, Arana 20, Norwood 10, Lee 9, Matias 9, Quinahan 7, Cruz 5, Tiu 4, Ibanes 0, Rodriguez 0.
MERALCO 82 — Dawson 23, Cardona 21, Guevarra 8, Reyes 6, Ross 6, Buenafe 6, Manuel 6, Hodge 2, Hugnatan 2, Sharma 2, Artadi 0.
Quarterscores: 22-23, 43-45, 66-65, 91-82.