Painters give Texters a dose of their own medicine

Now Talk ‘N Text knows how Burger King felt just a few days ago. The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters rallied back from a big 20-point third-quarter deficit to nip the Tropang Texters, 95-93, for their first back-to-back win in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Jeff Chan came through with a reverse lay-up with 13.8 seconds left to put Rain or Shine up ahead for good, 94-93, before Ren-Ren Ritualo missed a three-point attempt and Harvey Carey’s one-handed follow-up came up short in the ensuing play that finally doomed the Tropang Texters. "It’s a big win," said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia. "We lacked intensity in the first half, but we picked it up in the second. You can’t question the hearts of the players, and with this win, we kept alive our hopes for the quarterfinals." Chan finished with 14 points behind top scorer Ryan Araña’s 20. Gabe Norwood had 13, Mike Hrabak 12, while Jay-R Reyes and Mark Telan each added 11 as Rain or Shine beat a second heavyweight team after being the only squad so far to defeat Alaska. The Elasto Painters (3-7) missed the services of Sol Mercado (sore eyes). Five players submitted double-digit outputs for Talk ‘N Text, which came into the game fresh from a 118-105 win over Burger King in a match where it rallied from a 49-19 deficit. Talk ‘N Text dominated the first half and led 54-34 early in the third period. "Yun ang masarap," said Garcia of the victory against a team that had just came off a big win. “They (Texters) came from a victory from 30 points down." The Painters outscored the Texters, 31-19, in the third period. Araña actually had 11 points in the fourth quarter and was the one who put the Painters on top for the first time when he squeezed his way between Jared Dillinger and Peek for a point-blank shot with a foul to boot from Dillinger. He completed the three-point play that gave Rain or Shine a 92-91 lead with 1:12 remaining, yet the celebration appeared to be short-lived when Ranidel de Ocampo nailed down both his free throws in the next play as Talk ‘N Text regained the lead, 93-92. Araña turned over the ball while attempting to score inside but Rain or Shine got back possession after Alapag was called for an offensive foul. Chan then found a mismatch of sorts with Alapag defending him driving past the TNT guard for a reverse lay-up to give the Painters the lead for good. The Texters had a shot at sending the game into overtime or even claim an outright win after Reyes had a split from the line that made the count 95-93 with 2.3 seconds to go. But Rain or Shine’s defense on the inbound play disrupted whatever plans Talk ‘N Text had, with the ball landing on Alapag, who was too far from the basket. Alapag launched an off-balanced shot that missed the mark as time expired. – GMANews.TV