MANILA – Bucking off-court issues, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters cruised to their second straight victory in the 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup, beating NorthPort Batang Pier 120-98 Wednesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
Chris Tiu led the Painters (2-3) with career-high 23 points. James Yap added 20 markers with six 3-point conversions while Terrence Watson and Beau Belga had 21 markers apiece.
The Painters scored the victory in the absence of center Raymond Almazan, who has not showed up to team practices the past few weeks due to alleged differences with head coach Carlos Garcia.
Yap, Tiu and Belga combined for seven triples for the Painters to surge 33-19. The gap grew further in the second frame to its largest 58-33 on a layup by Maverick Ahanmisi.
The Batang Pier countered with a run in the second half and managed to come to within a single digit but the Painters pulled away anew with Yap, Tiu and Belga hitting their stride from the outside.
Rashad Woods top-scored with 30 points, while Sean Anthony and Juan Paolo Taha added 17 and 14 markers, respectively, for the Batang Pier, which dropped to a 2-7 win-loss slate.
ACES DRUB DYIP
In the first game, Mike Harris came up with another strong showing as the Alaska Aces bounced back from a defeat with a 104-94 victory over the cellar-dwelling Columbian Dyip.
The Aces had a strong start and even went ahead as far as 20 points at one point in the second half but the Dyip gave Alaska a scare in the fourth and came to within 88-95 with over four minutes in the match.
Alaska managed to pull away again 101-88 following hits from Harris and Vic Manuel. Columbian Dyip made their last push 94-101 before a free throw by Simon Enciso and an inside hit by Manuel sealed the win for the Aces.
Harris finished the match with 44 points and 27 rebounds, while Manuel added 16 markers for the Aces (6-2). Akeem Wright had 19 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists for the Dyip (0-9)./PN
