PBA: Petron arranges finals duel with San Mig Coffee after ousting defending champs Rain or Shine

(Updated 9:25pm) The Petron Blaze Boosters blitzed the defending champs Rain or Shine Elastopainters in the third quarter en route to a 110-89 victory, Monday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. With the win, the Boosters arranged a duel with the San Mig Coffee Mixers for the 2013 PBA Governors’ Cup title.

Rain or Shine had earlier forced a game four in the best-of-five series last Saturday, 92-87, but the overall number one seeds Petron made sure to close this one out, burying the Elasto Painters under a barrage of three-pointers.

The last time these two teams met in the Finals was way back in the 2000 PBA Governors’ Cup with the San Miguel Beermen winning over the Purefoods TJ Hotdogs four games to one. That series featured two of the most prolific imports of that era as the Jong Uichico-coached Beermen paraded Lamont Strothers while the Derrick Pumaren-helmed Hotdogs had Derrick Brown.

Leading by only six points at the half, the Boosters exploded early in the third quarter. Elijah Millsap and Alex Cabagnot combined for 28 points in the quarter to give the Boosters a lead that reached 25 points. The proud Elasto Painters tried to fight back even with key players injured, but their deficit was too steep for them to overcome.

“I’m very, very happy about this win,” said Petron head coach Gee Abanilla. “I give credit to the Rain or Shine organization. Even with some players injured, they fought tooth and nail and fought us to the limit.” Abanilla will make his first PBA Finals appearance in his very first conference as a head coach.

Millsap led the Boosters with 34 points and eight rebounds, while Cabagnot chipped in 23. Marcio Lassiter also had his best shooting game as a member of the Boosters. He totaled 27 points, connecting on 7-of-10 from three-point territory, most of which came when the Elasto Painters were threatening to make a comeback. Lassiter also added 12 rebounds.

“I just wanted to keep shooting until I missed. Tonight was just my night,” Lassiter said after the game. “The first two [triples], they helped off me so I kept shooting. This game I think they wanted to take away June Mar and they did it. I guess I was just ready.”

The Boosters led 6-5 when Beau Belga was called for a flagrant foul penalty one on Ronald Tubid at the 8:25 mark of the first. After two made free throws from Tubid, Gabe Norwood quickly replied with a fast break layup followed by a short jumper from Arizona Reid for a 9-8 ROS lead.

Marcio Lassiter scored five straight points after checking into the game to give Petron a 19-17 edge. The Boosters were poised to take the lead at the end of the first, but Arizona Reid carried the Elasto Painters, as he made a triple, stole the ball, and assisted on a Ryan Araña layup for a 25-24 lead for their squad.

Reid led all scorers with 41 points on 14-of-22 shooting. He also added 16 rebounds and six assists. Among the Rain or Shine locals, only Beau Belga scored in double-digits with 10. Ryan Arana chipped in nine points while JR Quinahan had seven.

June Mar Fajardo knotted the score at 29-all with a put-back early in the second quarter. Arwind Santos then scored on a two-handed dunk at the 7:43 mark to give Petron a two-point lead. Triples from Elijah Millsap and Lassiter stretched Petron's lead to seven at 39-32. They were able to raise their lead to nine, but Reid closed the first half with three free throws to cut Petron’s advantage down to six at 46-40.

Reid led all scorers at the half with 24 points on an efficient 9-of-11 shooting clip from the field. However, the Elasto Painters still trailed at the half as none of his teammates scored more than five points.

Elijah Millsap led the Boosters with 15 points, while Lassiter added 13. After the first 24 minutes, the two teams were almost even on all fronts, but ROS turned the ball over 15 times, leading to a 16-11 advantage for Petron in points off turnovers.

Already missing playmaker Paul Lee, Rain or Shine got into more trouble as Gilas gunner Jeff Chan was also questionable heading into the second half, as he rolled an ankle in the second period.

The Boosters blitzed the Elasto Painters early in the third quarter. A fastbreak layup from Cabagnot gave the Boosters a 53-40 lead at the 10:50 mark. He then tag-teamed with Millsap for three straight triples to break the game wide open and build Petron a 22-point lead at 62-40.

Two free throws from Millsap at the 6:03 mark of the third gave the Boosters a 70-55 lead. The Elasto Painters though slowly tried to climb back into the ball game. A triple from Beau Belga was quickly followed by a put-back from Jireh Ibanes to get RoS within 16 at 73-57. From a high of 25 points, the Elasto Painters were able to trim the lead down to 15, 80-65, heading into the final quarter.

“This is a team known for their comebacks. Even with a big lead, I knew they were going to come up with something,” said Abanilla. “It’s a good thing that Marcio made a lot of three point shots.”

The Elastopainters started the fourth with a 5-0 run to cut Petron’s lead down to 10. Lassiter, however, countered with cold-blooded triples to bring their lead back up to 16 at 86-70. ROS refused to quit as an and-one play from Reid was quickly followed by a Norwood triple to bring the Petron lead down to 10 anew, 89-79.

However, Lassiter came up big with another triple, followed by a Fajardo basket to bring the Boosters’ lead back up to 15, 94-79. Cabagnot added a four-point play at the 5:28 mark to extend their lead to 17 points and put the game away for the Boosters.

As a team, Petron shot 51.9 percent from the three-point area, making 14 of their 27 tries. The Boosters shot three's better than they did inside the mark as they made just 41.5 percent of their attempts from the two-point region. The Elasto Painters sorely missed the service of Chan who failed to score in 11 minutes. Two of their starters, Norwood and Jonathan Uyloan, also struggled on offense as the Gilas swingman only scored six points, while Uyloan failed to score.

“If you asked me before the start of the conference if I’d make it to the Finals, I’ll tell you that it’s nice to dream big,” Abanilla said in closing. “We’re living our dream but we have to keep on competing.”

Game one of the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals will start on Friday at the MOA Arena. Tipoff will be at 8pm. - RAF, GMA News


The scores:

Petron 110 - Millsap 34, Lassiter 27, Cabagnot 23, Fajardo 9, Santos 8, Lutz 2, Kramer 2, Miranda 2, Tubid 2, Lanete 1, Isip 0

Rain or Shine 89 - Reid 41, Belga 10, Arana 9, Quinahan 7, Norwood 6, Tang 5, Ibanes 5, Tiu 3, Matias 3, Uyloan 0, Cruz 0, Chan 0

Quarter scoring: 24-25, 46-40, 80-65, 110-89