PBA: Rain or Shine buries San Mig in 3-1 hole

Gabe Norwood soars high for a reverse dunk off a lob from Chris Tiu. Photo by KC Cruz

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are one game away from barging into the PBA Philippine Cup Finals as they defeated the San Mig Coffee Mixers 83-74, Thursday at the SM MOA Arena, for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Elasto Painters led from start to finish, but they had to quell a bunch of rallies from a desperate San Mig team.

Ronnie Matias exemplified the Rain or Shine’s resolve as he was named the Best Player of the Game with eight points and five rebounds. Matias barely played in the first half as he was yanked out by Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao after missing his defensive assignments, but the rugged veteran made up for his mistakes in the second half. Matias scored six points in a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter to keep the Mixers at bay. He also grabbed offensive rebounds to give his team more looks at the basket.

[Check out the play-by-play of this game here]

“Ronnie Matias hustled his way into becoming the best player of the ball game,” said Guiao in the post-game press conference. “Nagkaroon siya ng defensive lapse [lapses] but when he came back in the second half, he more than made up for his mistakes.”

Even though they played from behind the entire game, the Mixers actually had the chance to steal a win late in the fourth quarter. After a Larry Rodriguez lay-up gave the Elasto Painters a 10-point lead with only 2:53 left in the game, James Yap and PJ Simon engineered a 7-0 run. Simon capped this blast with a three-point basket with 1:11 left in the game to trim the RoS lead to three at 77-74.

The Mixers were able to get a stop and a chance to trim the lead further on the other end, but Mark Barroca missed a lay-up on the break. He complicated matters by fouling Chris Tiu, which turned into two free throws. The Elasto Painters’ defense then held strong in the final seconds of the game with Tiu finishing off the Mixers with two more lay-ups.

“Nung first half kinausap ako ni coach,” said Matias. “Ang dami kong turnovers at mali sa depensa, buti na lang nakabawi ako nung second.”

The game started with both teams shooting blanks. Two free throws from TY Tang finally broke the silence at the 8:35 mark. Jeff Chan followed this up with a three on the next possession. Joe Devance kept the score close for the Mixers early in the game, but he was called for three quick fouls, which prompted San Mig head coach Tim Cone to recall his forward to the bench. The Elasto Painters made the Mixers pay for the substitution as they scored eight quick points for an 18-10 lead.

RoS continued to out-hustle the Mixers in the second quarter. They were constantly beating the taller San Mig Coffee team in the battle of the boards, even getting four offensive rebounds on a single possession.

Norwood gave the fans another highlight play as he converted a Tiu alley-oop pass into a reverse dunk. Tiu then nailed a left-handed lay-up on the break for a 31-20 lead, their biggest of the game at that point. Three-point shots from Simon and Yap inched the Mixers closer, but Ibañes closed out the first half with his version of a trey for a 40-32 lead.

The Elasto Painters looked to break the game wide open early in the third quarter. Norwood sank a three on the very first possession of the second half to re-establish a double digit lead. Araña then stole the ball from Marc Pingris and converted on an and-one play at the 10:20 mark of the third. The former Green Archer followed it up with a couple of triples to sandwich a Norwood basket for a big 54-36 advantage.

The Mixers refused to let things get out of hand as Yap and Simon combined for five quick points to keep the game within their reach at 54-41 with 7:28 left in the third quarter.

Devance then spearheaded an 8-0 run to cut the Rain or Shine lead down to seven at 56-49, but Jervy Cruz and Matias doused water on the San Mig Coffee run with back-to-back jumpers. Cone drew up a nice play to free up Aldrech Ramos for a three to cut the ROS lead to eight, but Paul Lee found Cruz wide open down low to bump their buffer back to 10 at 62-52 to end the third.

The Mixers knew that they needed a big run to win the ball game and they did just that early in the fourth. Led by Devance, the Mixers went on a 10-4 blast that cut their deficit to just four points. But after a Yeng Guiao timeout, the Elasto Painters scored on back-to-back lay-ups to kill the rally.

The Elasto Painters held the Mixers to just 74 points, a far cry from the 106 points they scored in their lone victory in the series thus far.

“Again, it became a defensive game and as I’ve said I have full trust on my team to play defense,” said Guiao. “Paul Lee played horribly but other guys stepped up. Ronnie Matias stepped up. Chris Tiu stepped up, Gabe Norwood stepped up. That’s how this team is built. We just cover for each other.”

“It’s a big win for us because now we get three chances to make the finals,” added the multi-titled coach. “And of course our plan is to finish it off on Saturday.” - RAF/AMD, GMA News