PBA: Rain or Shine comes back from 21 points down in QF opener vs. Converge

Rain or Shine torched Converge in the second half to pull off a 124-120 come-from-behind win in Game 1 of their PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup quarterfinals affair on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters erased a deficit as big as 21 points by unloading a huge third quarter behind rookie Deo Cuajao before import Aaron Fuller, Adrian Nocum, and Caelan Tiongson took care of it the rest of the way to draw first blood in the race-to-three series.

Fuller posted a double-double of 33 points and 11 rebounds together with two assists while Nocum had 26 markers, nine assists, and five dimes. Tiongson chipped in 17 points while Cuajao churned out 15 markers as they poured 42 points in the third and limited the FiberXers to 28.

"I think the most important thing in this win is our playoff toughness. We had too many mistakes in the first half, we gave up too many offensive rebounds," Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said.

"We missed free throws, we had 13 turnovers in the first half. That was really the main problem, we gave up too many opportunities to them but we said that if we could solve those, we can get back to the game, which happened."

Converge was quick to put the clamps on Rain or Shine in the first half, forcing them to miss 14 of their 33 field goal attempts and converting 27 of their own to create a lead as big as 48-27 and take a 68-55 cushion into the break.

But the Elasto Painters got their acts together in the next frames.

Cuajao shot three three-pointers in the third, including one that gave Rain or Shine an 82-81 lead and allowed his team to seize a slim 97-96 lead to end the period.

Fuller then took over, converting back-to-back layups off two dimes from Nocum to make it a comfortable 120-111 lead for the Elasto Painters before he and Tiongson sank four straight free throws to close it out.

The heartbreaking loss saw Cameron Clark pace Converge with 28 points and eight rebounds while Justin Arana led the local support with 21 markers and five boards.

—JMB, GMA News