Rain or Shine pumped some life to its playoff hopes as it survived NLEX, 96-86, to arrest a six-game losing skid in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup on Saturday, July 9, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Elasto Painters did it coast-to-coast as Leonard Santillan set the tone in the opening frame before Gian Mamuyac played the fireman’s role towards the end to douse multiple Road Warriors fightback in the second half to list their second victory in eight games.
Santillan unloaded 13 of his 18 points in the opening frame on top of six rebounds while Gian Mamuyac rifled in 15 points including the booming triple he drilled to stop the NLEX rally and restore a double-digit lead, 93-82, with only 3:40 left in the game.
Rey Nambatac added 12 while Gabe Norwood and Beau Belga provided the poise and veteran presence with 10 each.
Elasto Painters head coach Chris Gavina was glad to finally get the monkey off his back following the painful six-game losing streak.
“I’m just lost for words right now. I’m emotionally drained from the past six losses. It hasn’t been like we've been getting blown out, our guys have been competing and fighting. It’s hard for me to really keep pushing guys but these guys just responded. I’m really proud of everything these guys gave me on a day-to-day basis so all credit goes to them and our coaching staff,” said Gavina.
“These guys have gone through so much adversity, the lessons that we’ve learned finally kicked in today and we’re able to learn from it in order to get this second win,” he added.
Indeed, the Elasto Painters learned from their mistakes from the past games as they refused to give the Road Warriors any kind of momentum throughout the game.
Rain or Shine led by as many as 21 points, 59-38, early in the third quarter behind Nambatac and Norwood although NLEX showed some signs of life late in the final frame as it used an 11-0 blast to cut the lead down to single digits, 90-82, with 3:58 left in the game.
However, the Elasto Painters got some insurance baskets with Mamuyac drilling the booming trey before Mark Borboran scored on an and-1 off an offensive rebound to put the game away.
Don Trollano and Calvin Oftana led the Road Warriors with 20 and 17 points respectively but were not enough as they absorbed their third straight loss for a 4-4 record in the standings.