Rain or Shine nips Philippine Cup champion Sta. Lucia, 80-79

MANILA, Philippines – From cellar dwellers to contenders. Rain or Shine showed Wednesday it is ready to go up against the top guns in the league after squeezing out an 80-79 triumph over defending champion Sta. Lucia in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. The Elasto Painters built several double digit leads in the game but allowed the Realtors to mount a comeback before pulling off the win in a wild finish that forced Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez to storm the table officials after a non-call by the referees on Paolo Mendoza’s three-point try. Fernandez felt that Mendoza was fouled by ROS rookie Sol Mercado but replays showed it was the Sta. Lucia guard who hit Mercado’s legs while attempting a last second shot from beyond the arc. Sta. Lucia even held on to a slim 79-78 lead, after Kelly Williams buried a three-pointer, but could not sink the shots that could have finished off Rain or Shine and completed their comeback. The Elasto Painters, on the other hand, wrapped up the win via back-to-back split free throws by Mercado and Rob Wainwright. Gabe Norwood, the other half of ROS’ talented rookies, added 19 points and nine rebounds. The George Mason standout also issued five assists with the last one a crucial feed to Reyes in an Elasto Painters fastbreak play that broke a 76-76 deadlock with 1:04 to go in the game. Mercado had a quiet 11 markers behind a 4-of-14 field goal shooting and 0-for-6 from downtown. He also had five rebounds, five assists, three steals and blocked one shot in 36 minutes of action. Sta. Lucia’s loss, its seventh in 14 games dropping them to a tie with idle Purefoods from sixth to seventh spots, put to waste Williams’ conference high 31 points. The 6-foo-6 forward also hauled down 12 boards, seven coming at the defensive end, to go with his four assists. Norman Gonzales, who has bailed out the Realtors the past few games, ended up with 15 points going 6-of-12 from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds. Paolo Mendoza, who took an ill-advised three-point attempt with still 20 seconds left, contributed 11 markers. – GMANews.TV