Chan's buzzer-beating trey lifts Painters over Express

Jeff Chan buried a three-pointer at the buzzer and Rain or Shine pulled off an 89-86 cliffhanger over Air21 to enter the win column of the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Astrodome. Chan found himself alone on the left flank after three Air21 defenders ganged up on the driving Solomon Mercado in the Elasto Painters’ final play. Getting the crucial pass from his burly national player teammate, Chan squared up and rifled in the winning shot off a rushing Ronjay Buenafe with the ball hitting nothing but the the net as the final buzzer sounded.

The hot-shooting guard from Far Eastern University ended up with a team-high 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds, including an impressive 4-of-7 shooting from three-point land. Ironically, the shot was Chan’s lone attempt in the fourth period. "That play was well-designed by coach Caloy Garcia. Just give credit to him," said Chan, humble even in victory. “I really thought the shot wasn't going in." Garcia simply returned the compliment. “Jeff was hot the whole game," he said. “When Sol attacked the basket, he saw Jeff open. I hope that shot gave him the confidence for when we play against bigger teams." The Elasto Painters leveled their record at 1-1, while handling Air21 its second straight loss despite finally having top rookie pick Nonoy Baclao suiting up for the team. Baclao, the elongated 6-foot-4 forward out of Ateneo, finished with only four points in his pro debut after missing the Express’ opening game against San Miguel Friday of last week owing to a hyper-extended knee. 26-21, 50-40, 71-74, 89-86 Mercado had 14 points for Rain or Shine, but could only split his free throws with 15.9 seconds left for an 86-84 lead. Left with no timeout, the Express wasted time, and then opted to go to Ronjay Buenafe, who was fouled by Doug Kramer while driving hard to the basket. Buenafe sank both free throws to tie the count at 86, leaving the Elasto Painters 5.4 seconds to map out their winning play. The former Emilio Aguinaldo College star paced the winless Express with 25 points, 13 of them coming in a big third period by Air21. He got ample support from rookie Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who added 19 points and 13 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. He also had three blocks. The loss was a sorry one for the Express, who came back from a 40-50 deficit at the half to take a 74-71 lead entering the final period after scoring 34 big points in the third, mainly on the efforts of Buenafe. Air21 was still on top, 82-77, following a basket by Leo Najorda with 5:44 to play, before going silent on offense in the next five minutes. The Elasto Painters took advantage of the situation by scoring eight unanswered points to seize the upperhand at 85-82 with 3:04 remaining. Buenafe finally snapped the scoring drought for the Express before Mercado had a split at the other end to stretch Rain or Shine’s lead to two. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV