Filtered By: Sports
Sports

Painters find import-less Aces easy pickings


Rain or Shine found an import-less Alaska team easy pickings, scoring a runaway 113-97 win Friday night to finally get back on track in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. Beau Belga and Hassan Adams powered their way inside for a combined 40 points as the Elasto Painters pummeled the Aces, who played minus suspended import LD Williams, to end a four-game slide. Belga came through with a career-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Adams also scored 20 in guiding Rain or Shine to its first win since a 102-92 victory against Poweradeon March 6. Overall, the Elasto Painters evened their record at 4-4 to move within a victory of clinching a playoff berth. "I don't know what this (victory) means, but it gives us a better chance," said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. Gabe Norwood added 13 points, Jeff Chan had 12, and Doug Kramer scored 11 and collared nine rebounds for Rain or Shine. Williams served his one-game suspension for committing a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 against Meralco's Mac Cardona in their game on March 25, which the Aces won in overtime, 104-101. Averaging 21.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, Williams was obviously missed by the Aces, especially when the Painters made a big 14-4 scoring run bridging the third and fourth quarters that put the Elasto Painters in control for good. That offensive blast, capped by a Josh Vanlandingham three-pointer, stretched an eight-point Rain or Shine lead to an 89-70 advantage with 9:52 left. "Our worry was that they were going to hang around until the end game. That was what we were trying to avoid. The experience of Alaska is hard to beat, and we just tried to put some distance between us and them as early as possible," said Guiao. Alaska lost for the third time in eight outings and fell to a tie with Ginebra while failing to clinch an outright playoff berth. "It's a big break since we lost four straight and we needed this (win) to boost our confidence," Guiao added. Joe Devance took charge for the Aces in Williams' absence, pouring 19 points and collecting nine rebounds. Tony De La Cruz added 17. LA Tenorio, who had a career-high 33 points in Alaska's last win over Meralco, was limited to four points, the first time he was held to a single-, reydigit output this conference. - KY, JVP, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT