By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine found the Korean Basketball League champion Anyang KGC a tough nut to crack, absorbing an 87-77 defeat in the 2023 William Jones Cup at the Taipei Heping Gymnasium on Thursday, Aug. 17.
The Elasto Painters put up a gallant stand and kept themselves within 10 points in the final frame but just couldn’t break through as former PBA import Du’Vaughn Maxwell and Ji Hoon Park provided the timely hits to keep the Filipinos at bay.
Rain or Shine, after trailing by as many as 20 points in the second half, just refused to go down with a fight, trimming the lead down to 10, 63-73 with 6:40 left through the efforts of Ange Kouame and Andrei Caracut
Park and Maxwell, however, connived on a 9-5 counter run that proved to be enough to cushion the late triples from ROS.
Park exploded for 25 points as Anyang asserted its mastery over Filipino teams after it also dealt San Miguel Beer a 142-87 beating during the East Asia Super League Champions Week.
Maxwell added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Caracut put up a second-straight stellar showing with 19 points while Kouame added a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds as the Filipinos dropped to a 1-5 record in the standings.
Rain or Shine takes a break on Friday before it wraps up its assignments against Japan U22 national team and UC Irvine on the weekend.
