MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters halted its six-game losing skid with a 96-86 beating of NLEX Road Warriors in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup over the weekend at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Leonard Santillan waxed hot in the opening half to finish with 18 points, while rookie Gian Mamuyac added 15 markers as the Painters returned to their winning ways to improve to 2-6 win-loss slate.
Norbert Torres and Rey Nambatac finished with 13 and 12 markers, respectively, while veterans Beau Belga and Gabriel Norwood ended up with 10 points apiece for the Painters.
The Road Warriors rallied to within seven points in the third canto but a four-point play and a triple by Nambatac anchored another breakaway for the Painters as the lead reached to as high as 19.
Celedonio Trollano finished with 20 points, while Calvin Oftana and Kevin Alas added 17 and 15 markers as the Road Warriors slumped to its third consecutive defeat for a 4-5 slate.
In the nightcap, Regile Ilagan came up with clutch conversions anew as Converge FiberXers (4-5) prevailed over NorthPort Batang Pier (2-6), 104-98, for back-to-back victories.
After seeing their double-digit lead trimmed to 94-97 via consecutive scores from Batang Pier’s Shej Roi Sumang, Ilagan came up with a jumper and a three-pointer for a 102-94 FiberXers lead with 19 seconds left.
Sumang trimmed it to 96-102 for the Batang Pier with a layup but the FiberXers widened the lead anew to 104-96 on a fastbreak layup by rookie Tyrus Hill with eight seconds remaining.
Ilagan finished the match with 20 points, including four three-point conversions, Jeo Ambohot added 15 markers, while Abu Tratter, rookie Justin Arana and Hill contributed 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the FiberXers./PN
