Painters live to fight another day, avoid Giants sweep

Rain or Shine won’t just easily fade away in the night. Their backs against the wall, the Elasto Painters bounced back in Game 3 of their best-of-five series with Purefoods Giants, pulling off a 95-92 win and stay alive in the KFC-PBA quarterfinals Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Jeff Chan scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, while Gabe Norwood converted on a perfectly-timed follow-up slam in the final 4.6 seconds that sealed the Painters’ win. “I still believe we can make a comeback in the series," said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia. “They don’t want to lose. They don’t want to be swept. They have this confidence now." Despite the loss, the Giants still hold a 2-1 series lead and can still wrap it all up on Game 4 this Friday. They also played without injured starter Kerby Raymundo (thigh), Rico Maierhofer (ankle) and PJ Simon (knee). Chan scored 15 points from beyond the arc, where he went 5-of-11. He also pulled down six rebounds and also had six assists in 40 minutes of action. But it was Norwood’s follow-up dunk that saved the day for Rain or Shine after Purefoods appeared ready to pull off another come-from-behind win the way it did in Game 2 when the Giants rallied back from a 20-point deficit to win, 95-94 on James Yap’s two pressure-packed free throws with sixth-tenths of a second left. “I was just at the right place at the right time," said Norwood. “It’s been tough for us. We’re playing well in the wild card but two close games in the quarterfinals, heart-breakers really." Norwood, last year’s rookie of the year, finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Mike Hrabak (15), Sol Mercado (11) and TY Tang (10), playing for the first time in the series, all contributed double-digit outputs. Niño Canaleta scored 18 points to lead Purefoods, which failed to achieve its first sweep in 17 years or since beating rival Swift in the 1993 All-Filipino semi-finals. James Yap added 17 points but went 0-of-8 from the three-point arc. Roger Yap also had 17 points but committed four turnovers. The Elasto Painters trailed, 70-59 in the third quarter, but were able to trim the gap to within four, 72-68, entering the fourth period. Then, Chan hit four triples in a 17-7 blast as Rain or Shine seized command at 85-77 with 5:24 left in the game. Rain or Shine was sitting at what looked like a very comfortable cushion (93-83) with 2:05 to go when Purefoods made one final run. Despite two costly turnovers, the Giants came dangerously close at 93-90 after Raffi Reavies, who ended up with 15 rebounds, completed a three-point play with 27.5 seconds left. – GMANews.TV