By REYNALD MAGALLON
The main event of the Masskara Festival is still on the weekend but Rain or Shine already began the fireworks on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Rain or Shine lit it up from deep in the second quarter before fending off repeated rallies from Meralco to come away with a 94-81 victory in the PBA exhibition game as part of the festivities in Bacolod City.
The Elasto Painters sizzled from deep, drilling six-straight triples to anchor a blistering 25-0 run bridging the second and the third frames to create the sizable margin enough to withstand several comeback attempts from the shorthanded but resilient Bolts.
Meralco was actually still up by five, 30-25, midway through the second canto when Rain or Shine unleashed a barrage of triples with Beau Belga, Jhonard Clarito and rookies Keith Datu and Sherwin Concepcion drilling one each for an 18-0 run to finish the first half.
Rain or Shine went on with its telling run at the start of the second half with James Yap scoring on a floater and a triple and Mac Belo sinking a jumper to erect the biggest lead of the game at 20, 50-30.
Santi Santillan topscored for Rain or Shine with 16 points on top of 12 rebounds as he delivered timely hits to keep Meralco at bay after it cut the lead down single digits in the second half.
Andrei Caracut and Jhonard Clarito finished with 12 apiece while Mark Borboran added 10 as Rain or Shine played with import DaJuan Summers reduced as spectator from the sidelines
Diego Dario had 20 points to pace the depleted Meralco who missed Chris Banchero in the second half while also without guys like Raymond Almazan, Anjo Caram, and Chris Newsome.
The scores:
ROS 94 – Santillan 16, Caracut 12, Clarito 12, Borboran 10, Concepcion 9, Belga 7, Asistio 6, Belo 6, Datu 5, Yap 5, Ildefonso 4, Nambatac 2, Mamuyac 0.
MERALCO 81 – Dario 20, Rios 17, Black 14, Jose 6, pascual 6, Pasaol 5, Torres 4, Bates 4, Banchero 3, Jackson 2.
Quarters: 17-15, 43-30, 70-59, 91-81.
