Rain or Shine rallies past Star to spoil Webb's coaching debut

Published October 21, 2015 9:39pm

Jewel Ponferada provided a bench spark for Rain or Shine. KC Cruz

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters overcame deficits of double-digits in the first half for a roaring 96-87 victory over the Star Hotshots in the opening game of the PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

"We couldn't get any rhythm in the first half. We just tried to be patient with our execution, the patience paid off," said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, who headed off the head coaching debut of new Star coach Jason Webb.

"Jason Webb's going to be a great coach in this league," added Guiao of Webb, who took over for Tim Cone before the season.

Led by 13 points from James Yap in the first two quarters, the Hotshots led by 10 points several times.

But the Elasto Painters asserted their frontcourt might in the second half behind Beau Belga, JR Quinahan, Jewel Ponferada, and Raymond Almazan for a finishing kick that left Star in the dust.

Rain or Shine also clamped down on the Hotshots in the second half, limiting Yap to just two points after the break.

Quinahan led all scorers with 17 points, while Almazan finished with nine points and nine rebounds to win player of the game honors.

Rain or Shine won despite missing top gun Paul Lee, who is out with a knee injury.

"Paul's gonna be out about four weeks. We want to make it sooner but we don't want to force the issue," said Guiao.

"We'll try to survive without Paul and keep ourselves in contention." —JST, GMA News

The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 96 - Quinahan 17, Cruz 15, Belga 11, Almazan 9, Norwood 9, Chan 8, Tiu 7, Ponferada 6, Ibanes 4, Teng 4, Ahanmisi 3, Matias 3, Trollano 0.

STAR 87 - Barroca 15, Mallari 15, Yap 15, Sangalang 13, Simon 11, Pingris 8, Torres 5, Maliksi 2, Melton 2, Reavis 1, Gaco 0, Pascual J. 0.

Quarters: 17-25, 40-47, 69-70, 96-87

Tags: pba, pbaseason, rainorshineelastopainters, purefoodsstarhotshots, jasonwebb