MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters got its acts together in the second half to score an 84-77 win over Magnolia Hotshots in Game 1 of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup semifinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Javee Mocon tallied double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds while Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga and Eduardo Daquioag added 13, 12 and 10 markers, respectively.
The Painters surged to a 10-0 start behind early hits from Kris Rosales but the Hotshots relied on Paul Lee to tie the score at 16-all before Mark Borboran buried a buzzer beating triple for a 19-16 ROS lead after one.
The Hotshots owned the second quarter where it led by as much as seven points at 27-20 but the Painters responded with a rally to come to within four points at the half.
Magnolia went on to build a 41-33 lead early in the third before Mocon spearheaded a huge counter attack for ROS for a 58-50 edge then settled for a three point advantage heading into the fourth.
In the final frame, the Painters went on to tie its largest lead of 10 points on triples by Belga and James Yap. The Hotshots rallied to within five but hits by Norwood restored order for the ROS.
Lee finished with 15 points, 10 coming in the first half, while Ian Sangalang and Andy Mark Barroca added 13 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Hotshots./PN
