MANILA, Philippines - The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters put behind them their heartbreaking loss to the Alaska Aces the last time out and clobbered the Barako Bull Energy Cola, 106-97, to assure themselves of a playoff shot at a quarterfinals twice-to-beat edge in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The E-Painters built a 23-point lead in the third quarter and hardly relaxed to the finish, pulling closer to a second-place finish in the elimination round with a 9-4 win-loss card.
“We didn’t want to commit the same mistake we made against Alaska. We got a big lead and lost it as we relaxed. We made sure that same thing didn’t happen today,†said RoS coach Yeng Guiao.
“We were able to push the pace as planned. High scoring ball game is good for us. And I thought they gave up early on their import. They didn’t use him most of the second half, and that was good for us,†Guiao also said.
Barako Bull consultant Rajko Toroman kept import DJ Mbenga on the bench to the end after they fell behind by 23 at 61-84.
The closer the Energy Cola could get was within eight before eventually suffering a ninth loss against four wins.
They need to win their last game against the Globalport Batang Pier tomorrow and hope the Air21 Express lose to the Petron Blaze Boosters tonight to secure a playoff for the eighth and last quarters slot.
In the first game, Alaska needed to pull off some escape act to the very last 0.6 second, charging back from a 15-point deficit then weathering Globalport’s own fightback for a 93-92 nail-biter to end its topnotch performance in the elimination round.
Sam Eman deflected Reed Juntilla’s in-bounds in the last 0.6 second as the Aces preserved the win and closed out their elims stint with a tournament-best 11-3 (win-loss) card.
Assured of playoffs top seeding even before the game, the Aces still went out for the win, overcoming a 57-72 deficit in the third quarter in a morale-boosting performance that should augur well for the team in the post-elim play.