Painters outlast Batang Pier despite FT woes

Games Friday (Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4:15 p.m. – Alaska vs Blackwater

7 p.m. – NLEX vs Purefoods

MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine struggled badly from the stripe but played smart enough in a down-to-the-wire finish to withstand Globalport, 86-83, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.

Jeff Chan and Beau Belga fired blanks from the line in the crunch but themselves conspired for crucial plays, helping the Elasto Painters notch a second straight win and four in six games in all.

 “We made it tough for ourselves by missing important free throws. Jeff uncharacteristically missed his foul shots and Beau missed his in endgame,” rued Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. “But a win is a win, and we’ll go to Davao (for a game versus Meralco Saturday) trying to ride the momentum some more.”

Missing 12 of 31 charities in all, the Elasto Painters blew away a 13-point halftime lead and needed to erase an eight-point deficit in the third to hand the Batang Pier a third loss against the same number of wins.

“I thought Globalport pushed us hard to the end. We had a 13-point lead at the half but they caught up then raced ahead in a short time. This team is rising up, giving the veteran teams a hard time,” said Guiao.

The Batang Pier were still in control at 70-63 before Chan scored 12 points to cap a 19-8 tear that brought the E-Painters back on top at 82-78.

And the E-Painters could have easily closed out the game if not for their missed free throws.

From that count alone, Belga clanked four straight foul shots. Chan and Belga both finished with a woeful 3-of-7 free throws.

Nonetheless, Guiao stuck with the two, who responded with smart plays, including a hand-off by Chan to Belga underneath for a bucket that made it 84-80.

In the closing seconds, Chan and Belga helped Rain or Shine make a tough defensive stand that eventually bailed the team out.

The two Gilas veterans, with 28 points between themselves, led six RoS players finishing in double figures.

Alex Cabagnot led all scorers with 20 points but failed to convert three important field attempts in the closing seconds.

As Cabagnot missed the second of those three tries, the Elasto Painters snared the defensive rebound and whiled away about 10 seconds before Paul Lee was tagged for a duty foul by Keith Jensen with only 4.8 ticks left.

Lee canned in both charities to make it 86-83, then Globalport again went to Cabagnot who missed another three-point try at the buzzer.