MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vented its ire on the shorthanded San Miguel Beermen to score a 108-98 victory in the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Negrense James Yap led the way with 21 points, including three triples, while rookie Javee Mocon chipped in double-double 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Painters, which got back on the winning track to improve to 3-1 win-loss slate.
After being down by as much as 12 points early in the game, the Painters came up with a huge run from Yap, Norbert Torres and Maverick Ahanmisi to surge ahead at the half, 54-42.
The Painters went on to build its biggest lead at 69-51 on five straight points by Yap but the Beermen countered with outside hits from Marcio Lassiter, Terrence Romeo and Von Pessumal to come to as close as 83-86.
The Painters, however, got timely three-point conversions from Mocon to increase the lead to 96-89. The Beermen made its last push at 92-96 but baskets from Yap and Ahanmisi increased Rain or Shine’s lead back to double figures.
Lassiter finished with 27 points, including seven triples, while June Mar Fajardo added double-double 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Beermen (2-3), which were without injured Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot and Matthew Ganuelas-Rosser.
In the first game, Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters cruised to a wire-to-wire 114-95 domination over the Blackwater Elite to stretch its franchise’s best start to four games in as many games.
The Fuel Masters surged to a 15-3 start on early hits from Matthew Wright and Jason Perkins. The lead swelled to 66-42 at the half with contributions from Calvin Abueva and Alex Mallari.
Phoenix’s lead grew to its largest at 85-78 in the second half before the Elite made its last push bridging the third and fourth quarter and was able to come to as close as 87-101 but baskets from Abueva, Perkins and Wright increased the lead back to 110-87.
Abueva led the way with double-double 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Wright and Perkins added 19 and 15 points, respectively, for the Fuel Masters. Abu Tratter tallied 24 points and eight rebounds for the Elite, which dropped to 1-3./PN
