Pumped-up RoS faces Barako Bull

MANILA, Philippines - Rain or Shine, its morale and confidence soaring following its conquest of erstwhile unbeaten Petron Blaze, is eager to get going and stay close to  the frontrunners as it tangles with Barako Bull in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay tonight.

Stopping the Boosters, 99-95, in overtime Saturday, the Elasto Painters are fancied to pull off another one versus the Energy Cola whom they’ve already beaten, 93-81, in their previous matchup on Dec. 1.

The E-Painters and the Energy Cola clash at 5:45 p.m. preceding the 8 p.m. duel between San Mig Coffee and Alaska Milk in the third to the last PBA playdate in the year about to end.

Rain or Shine’s biggest motivation is to close in on Barangay Ginebra (8-1), Petron Blaze (7-2) and Talk n Text (6-2) and stay in the fight for the Top Two which rewards twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.

Barako, like San Mig and Alaska, is out to improve its card in the middle of the pack.

The Energy Cola are also fresh from a crucial win as they repelled the Meralco Bolts, 99-86, Sunday to check their six-game skid.

“We need to get a win and we are playing a very tough team. Hopefully, we can follow up our win over Meralco,” said Barako Bull coach Bong Ramos.

The San Mig-Alaska rematch is tipped to be a battle.

The Aces won their previous meeting, 84-80, but the Mixers have established momentum and are aching to get back at Alaska.

San Mig beat Barako Bull and Globalport last week for its first back-to-back victories in the season while Alaska has slowed down with just one win in its last four outings.

Coach Tim Cone and his troops are determined to sustain their mini-romp in a bid to tie Globalport (4-5) at fifth place while coach Luigi Trillo and his chargers hope to win their last game in the year and bump off San Mig at sixth place.

The Aces currently share seventh spot with the Energy Cola and the Bolts at 3-6.

“We can be better,” said Trillo, confident they can make a run sooner or later.

“But we have to improve,” he quickly added, pointing out the eight turnovers they committed in the third quarter and 24 free throws they yielded in the final canto in their last game against Barangay Ginebra.

He insists they have to raise notches higher the level of their game especially as they’re up against the San Mig side that has sparked a turnaround in its own campaign in the all-Filipino tourney.

“They have that big lineup that we need to worry about. They have a ton of weapons,” said Trillo.

After a woeful 1-5 start in the tourney, the Mixers have gotten over the hump with their successive wins over the Energy Cola and the Batang Pier.

James Yap banged in a three-pointer then Mark Barroca pulled a steal and made two charities within the last 25 seconds as the Mixers scored their first back-to-back wins in the season while denying the Batang Pier a fourth straight victory.