By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine endured a hot-shooting Blackwater and then rode on a strong finishing kick to hack out a 120-106 victory in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup at Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Wednesday, May 7.
The Elasto Painters pulled away from a 102-all deadlock behind a back-breaking 18-4 run to outlast the Bossing and pick up their third win through five games.
The returning Keith Datu fired a career-high 28 points to keep ROS afloat against the flood of triples from Blackwater which fired 18 triples and three four-pointers.
Caelan Tiongson and Adrian Nocum then connived in the pivotal fourth quarter run, combining for 12 of the team’s last 18 points to pull away for good.
Nocum finished with 23 points while Tiongson added 14. They did not do it alone, though, with Gian Mamuyac and Andrei Caracut chipping in 11 apiece while Jhonard Clarito and Leonard Santillan had 10 each.
Meanwhile, Xyrus Torres came up huge in the clutch, draining a booming triple inside the final minute as NLEX squeezed past Barangay Ginebra, 89-86, to keep its streak going.
The Road Warriors squandered a once 17-point lead and were even down by two, 86-84, when Torres showed pure guts, first faking off a pass before going for the dagger himself – a wide open left wing triple to put his team ahead for good, 87-86, with 48.2 seconds left.
The big shot gave NLEX its fourth straight win – three of which came against the semifinalists of the last conference – to improve to a 4-1 record in the standings.
Of course, it would not happen without the efforts of their star in Robert Bolick who fired 28 points – including the triple that allowed NLEX to keep in step with Ginebra entering the final minute of the game.
Trailing by three, 81-84, Bolick nailed the big top-of-the-key trey to tie the game at 84-all. Scottie Thompson put the Kings back ahead but a scramble for the loose ball on the next NLEX possession ended up with Javee Mocon issuing a kickout pass to Torres who knocked down the dagger.
