MANILA – Leonard Santillan completed his fourth quarter offensive onslaught with a game-winner as Rain or Shine Elasto Painters escaped with a 120-118 win over Terrafirma Dyip in the 2022-2023 PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With the score tied at 118-all with 24 seconds left, Santillan scored on an uncontested basket from a pass by Rey Nambatac to surge the Painters ahead, 120-118, with 0.7 seconds in the game.
Santillan finished the game with 21 points, with 10 coming in the fourth quarter, to go with six rebounds as the Painters scored back-to-back victories to improve to 2-4 win-loss record.
Andrei Caracut top-scored with 25 points, including six triples, Gabriel Norwood added conference-high 18 markers, while Nambatac and Anton Asistio had 14 and 10 for the Painters, which were without import Greg Smith II due to clearance issues.
Despite the absence of Smith, the Painters managed to put up a 114-106 lead behind three-pointers by Caracut and Norwood but the Dyip answered with triples from Juan Miguel Tiongson and Andreas Cahilig and inside hits by Jordan Williams to tie the score.
Williams finished with double-double 30 points and 16 rebounds, Tiongson and Eric James Camson had 23 and 14 points, respectively, while Cahilig and Alex Cabagnot had 13 each as the Dyip dropped to 2-4.
Meanwhile, Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots clawed back from a double-digit deficit to score a 119-103 victory over the skidding NLEX Road Warriors. The Hotshots moved up to 3-3, while the Road Warriors dropped to 4-2.
Down 66-55 midway in the third quarter, the Hotshots turned things around behind three-pointers by Antonio Hester, Paul Lee, Aris Dionisio, Jiovani Jalalon and Andy Mark Barroca to surge ahead at 88-79.
The Road Warriors tried to stay within striking distance in the fourth quarter but the Hotshots responded with inside conversions from Hester as the lead reached its largest at 108-87.
Hester finished with double-double 37 points and 15 rebounds, Lee added 18 markers, while Jalalon had a near triple-double 17 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for the Hotshots.
BOX SCORE:
RAIN OR SHINE 120 – Caracut 25, Santillan 21, Norwood 18, Nambatac 14, Asistio 10, Belga 9, Borboran 8, Ildefonso 6, Yap 4, Ponferrada 3, Demusis 2, Clarito 0, Torres 0.
TERRAFIRMA 118 – Williams 30, Tiongson 23, Camson 14, Cabagnot 13, Cahilig 13, Gomez de Liano 6, Ramos 6, Calvo 5, Gabayni 4, Alolino 3, Daquioag 1.
Quarterscores: 33-28, 59-57, 90-87, 120-118./PN
