MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine kept its sizzling romp even with a crippled lineup and stayed within striking distance of leaders Alaska Milk and San Miguel Beer with a crucial 83-74 win over Purefoods Star in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday night.
TY Tang and Jonathan Uyloan played quality minutes in place of Jeff Chan and Chris Tiu, coming through with key plays in the crunch as the Elasto Painters stretched their streak to five games and improved to 7-2 (win-loss) at third place.
Rain or Shine sneaks into the Top Two and gains outright semifinals passage if it wins its last two games against Alaska Milk and Barangay Ginebra.
Earlier in the night, Globalport started life under interim coach Eric Gonzales by shocking Barangay Ginebra, 98-77.
Losses by Purefoods and Ginebra dragged them down to 5-4, just half game up on Globalport (5-5) and a game ahead of Meralco (5-5) in the fight for the last two slots in the Top Six.
Tournament format calls for the Top Two to automatically make the semis and the next four to clinch twice-to-beat advantage versus Teams 7-10 in the quarterfinals.
Even minus Chan, Tiu, Jeric Teng and Jervy Cruz, the E-Painters sustained their hot run, pulling a crucial one against the Purefoods side that beat them in two finals showdowns last season.
“I couldn’t give the guys enough credit tonight. They just put in a tremendous effort. The guys wanted to win the game,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.