Boosters stop Painters' streak in wire-to-wire win

MANILA, Philippines – Playing with sense of urgency, Petron Blaze Boosters finally win one and cut Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ series lead in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals down to one game, 2-1, after hacking out a wire-to-wire 106-73 win Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Boosters got off to a huge 30-12 lead in the opening quarter and never looked back to deal the Painters their first loss after a franchise-best 10-game winning streak. 

Arwind Santos paced Petron with 22 points and 18 rebounds while four more Boosters scored in double figures.

The Boosters step on the gas and unloaded eight triples in the opening half to break the game wide open. The 18-point lead ballooned to 29, 55-26, in the closing minutes of the second canto.

““It really feels good to finally get our first win in the series,” said Petron Blaze coach Gee Abanilla, who finally had a sigh of relief after losing the first two games of the series.  

“I thought that we played well in Game 2, but unfortunately, we didn’t finish it off for the entire 48 minutes. We made some adjustments and today, I’m just happy that the guys responded,” Abanilla added.

Alex Cabagnot Junemar Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz added 15, 14, 13 and 11, in that order, for the Boosters who will seek to equalize the series on Monday at 8 pm that will shift to Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Fajardo returned to his dominant form adding 12 rebounds to extend his double-double streak to conference-best 14, while lacing up his performance with four assists and two blocks.

“We knew what to do in this game all throughout. It’s really tough. We really have to be mentally and physically prepared against this team, and at the same time, we’ve got to be mentally and physically tough also,” Abanilla said.

The Painters, who won the first two games with their physicality, were nowhere near their top form. They put up a semblance of a fight when they twice cut the deficit to 13 but the Boosters were not to be denied.

Belga led the Painters, who lost Yeng Guiao for two technical fouls, with 14 points and seven boards off the bench.