MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters leaned on its torrid outside shooting to score a 93-80 victory over the Magnolia Hotshots in Game 2 of the 2019 Honda PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Eduardo Daquioag led the way with 19 points, Norbert Torres tallied 16 markers, while Rey Nambatac and Gabriel Norwood contributed 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Painters, which surged to a 2-0 edge in the series.
As a team, the Painters converted 16-of-37 from the three-point line with Torres having an efficient 4-of-4 shooting while the Hotshots managed to shot seven of the 25 outside shots it hoisted.
Painters surged to a 17-12 start with Torres converting three early triples but the Hotshots quickly rallied back to take an 18-17 edge but the ROS regained the lead after the first 12 minutes on two free throws by Jewel Ponferrada.
Painters extend the lead to 38-25 at the onset of the second period on treys from Torres, Daquioag, Nambatac and Mark Borboran. Hotshots trim the deficit to 50-41 at the half on five straight points from Robbie Herndon.
Hotshots was able to come to as close as 45-52 early in the third but the Painters created distance anew on back-to-back triples by Daquioag and five straight points from James Yap for a 73-57 advantage.
The Painters went on to build its largest lead at 84-59 on a milestone triple from Yap, who moved to No. 4 overall in PBA career triples made, before the Hotshots made a late run behind its reserve players to trim the final deficit to 13 points.
Herndon and Ian Sangalang finished with 13 points each, while Paul Lee and rookie Michael Calisaan added 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Hotshots, which is on a must-win situation in Game 3 tomorrow to avoid falling to a 0-3 hole./PN
