TAIPEI, Taiwan — Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao admitted that his wards felt some jitters in their first game in the 42nd William Jones Cup but he remained confident that they can put up a better performance once they can finally settle down.

The Elasto Painters were obviously caught off-guard by a hot-shooting Chinese Taipei in the opening quarter where it led by as many as 17 points, paving the way to the convincing 98-79 win over the Filipinos.

For Guiao though, it is completely normal for a young crew like Rain or Shine to take time in adjusting to international play.

“Kasama iyon eh, this is a young team. I think as a team, this is the first that they played in an international tournament so mayroon talagang ganoong period na mangangapa pa, may kaunting nerbyos pa,  mayroong kaba pa,” said Guiao.

“Once they get going, palagay ko naman they can give a better account of themselves,” he added.

Even import Nick Evans took time to get his offense going, scoring 14 points in the second half after being held scoreless in the first two quarters, summarizing ROS’ offensive struggles in the contest. 

Andrei Caracut, who finished with team-high 18 points and Ange Kouame, who had a double-double of 15 points and 16 rebounds, were the few bright spots for the Elasto Painters.

“Parang gigil si Nick. 'Yung una mga tinira niya parang minamadali niya but later on sa second half actually nakukuha na niya yung laro niya. Once they settle down, makikita natin siguro na they can perform better,” said Guiao.

Defense was also a suspect for ROS in the first game, allowing Chinese Taipei to jumpstart their offense behind the duo of 6-foot-11 naturalized player Will Artino and Senegalese-Taiwanese Mohammad Al Bachir Gadiaga.

Undeterred, however, was Guiao who believes his team can fare better against the other teams in the tournament.

“Nakita ko naman yung ibang teams palagay ko may laban tayo sa ibang teams malakas lang talaga yung national team ng chinese taipei di natin nasabayan ‘yung dalawang import nila eh,” he added.