By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine was quick to flaunt its depth and put the rest of the league on notice with a rousing 110-97 victory to open their Season 49 PBA Governors’ Cup campaign at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Aaron Fuller led a balanced attack with five other players scoring with at least eight points as the Elasto Painters broke the game wide open in the third frame and never looked back from there to pick up the first win in Group B.
Fuller announced his return to the league with 24 points – 12 of which he dropped in the opening frame – to go along with 19 rebounds.
Caelan Tiongson, who took his time before making the leap to the PBA, proved to be worth the wait as he unloaded 15 points including a stretch late in the second quarter where he scored eight straight points.
Fellow first rounder Felix Lemetti chipped in 11 points built on three triples while Santi Santillan added 12. Gian Mamuyac was the other player in double-figure with 10 while Anton Asistio had nine.
Jhonard Clarito and Adrian Nocum had eight apiece.
Already up by nine at the break, 59-50, the Elasto Painters went on a hot 12-4 run to open the third frame to build a double-digit lead that they never relinquished. The lead ballooned by as many as 21 points as the Bossing struggled to find answers to ROS’ offensive onslaught despite the strong showing from second overall pick Sedrick Barefield.
The former NBA G-League campaigner lived up to the lofty billing with 18 points while James Kwekuteye provided support with 17. Bradwyn Guinto added 15 points to make up for the sloppy showing from import Ricky Ledo who only finished with 12 points.
Meanwhile, no player scored from the four-point territory as both teams combined on a 0-of-11 clip. Rain or Shine missed all of its three shots from way deep while Blackwater didn’t make any from all of its eight attempts.
