By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao was pleased with the end game composure of his young team that allowed them to win Game 2 of their best-of-three quarterfinals series against TNT and force a knockout match on Wednesday, May 15.
Guiao was glad at how his younger players never faltered even when the Tropang Giga rallied repeatedly and instead unloaded a telling 12-2 run to put the game away, 121-113.
It was entirely opposite of the 116-99 loss when ROS managed to be competitive in the first three quarters but totally collapsed in the final frame, allowing TNT to draw first blood.
“Ang pinakamaganda siguro yung nakabalik kami, they led us a couple of times pero I think ang importante is (we are) learning to get back kapag nagkakaroon ng run yung kabilang team,” said Guiao as the Elasto Painters made the run exactly when TNT retook the lead, 111-109 after roaring follow up dunk from Kelly Williams with 2:38 left.
“Pero ang importante para sa akin iyong batang team namin, natututo nang lumaban sa end game. Kasi yung mga batang team iyon yung problema maybe for three and a half quarters nakakasabay sila, which is nangyari nug last game sa amin,” added the fiery mentor.
Aside from the late run,what’s more pleasing to watch for Guiao was that it was his young guns who provided the tip to the spear of Rain or Shine during that run.
Santi Santillan scored off a beautiful post move as quick response to William’s dunk before Jhonard Clarito drilled a trey, Adrian Nocum with a layup and another triple from Andrei Caracut to suddenly put ROS ahead for good, 119-111.
The four all reached the 20-point mark in scoring– a first time this season and in the ROS franchise to have at least four players to do so. Clarito led the way with 29 points, Caracut had 21 and Santillan and Nocum finished with 20 points each.
While the Elasto Painters are also showing signs of maturity, Guiao also felt that lady luck also smiled upon them and he was glad that they managed to take advantage.
“Siguro maturity na rin or at least sinwerte din sa sitwasyon nila kulang sila ng player, rare occassion eh so kailangan talaga itake advantage mo,” added the veteran mentor referring to TNT’s loss of Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser due to a knee injury and the foul trouble of the Tropang Giga key player.
