Manila – Adrian Nocum took over the scoring for Rain or Shine Elasto Painters as they scored a 123-114 victory over NLEX Road Warriors in the 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Struggling with his offense in the regulation, Nocum spearheaded the Painters’ attacks in the extension period as they established a 120-114 advantage with under a minute left.
Following misses by Road Warriors’ Robert Bolick Jr. on the other side, Anton Asistio managed to drew a foul from the three-point area as they stretched the advantage to 123-114.
Nocum finished with 11 points, with seven coming in the overtime period, as the Painters moved up to a share of Group B lead with the San Miguel Beermen with 6-2 win-loss slate.
Asistio top-scored for the Painters with a conference-high of 25 points, including five three-pointers, Aaron Fuller added a double-double of 23 points and 25 rebounds, while Jhonard Clarito, Felix Lemetti, and Caelan Tiongson ended with 15, 14, and 11 points.
Painters head coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao stated that the victory was a good test for his young squad, especially with an explosive game from Road Warriors import DeQuan Jones.
“Good test for us, this is a good experience, we have to learn how to close out close games,” Guiao said. “Hindi namin alam papaano namin na-survive ‘yung import nila, he had a monster game.”
“What we tried to do is just to hang in there, kumapit lang kami, maganda ‘yung nilalaro ng import (namin), maganda rin ‘yung suporta ng locals, kaya nung medyo napagod na sila, that became our opportunity to run,” he added.
Jones, formerly of the Orlando Magic in the NBA, made his Road Warriors’ debut with 49 points, while Bolick contributed 28 markers as they dropped to a 3-5 win-loss record.
BOX SCORE:
RAIN OR SHINE 123 – Asistio 25, Fuller 23, Clarito 15, Lemetti 14, Tiongson 11, Nocum 11, Santillan 7, Datu 7, Mamuyac 5, Ildefonso 3, Belga 2, Caracut 0.
NLEX 114 – Jones 49, Bolick 28, Mocon 9, Herndon 9, Valdez 8, Miranda 6, Amer 3, Marcelo 2, Rodger 0, Semerad 0, Fajardo 0.
Quarterscores: 34-33, 56-61, 89-83, 110-110, 123-114./PN
