MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters rolled with its all-Filipino crew in the second half to score an 86-84 victory over Alaska Aces in the 2019 Honda PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Mark Borboran, Rey Nambatac, Jayvee Mocon and Sidney Onwubere carried the cudgels for the Painters in the second half to make up for the absence of import Denzel Bowles, who exited in the second quarter due to a leg injury.
Holding to a slim 39-36 halftime edge, the Painters opened the second half with a 52-43 lead behind hits from Nambatac and Gabe Norwood. The Aces quickly erased the edge and took a 59-57 edge before the ROS surged ahead on a triple by Mocon.
The Painters widened the lead to 79-70 in the fourth with baskets from Onwubere and Borboran but the Aces came up with a rally to trim the deficit to 78-81 before ROS sealed the win with a triple from Eduardo Daquioag.
Borboran finished the match with 11 points, all in the second half, while Nambatac and Mocon added 10 and nine markers, respectively, for the Painters, which snapped its two-game slide to improve to 4-5 win-loss slate.
Bowles top-scored for the Painters with 16 points and four rebounds before going out for good late in the second period when he injured his leg on a collision with Aces forward Jeron Teng.
Chris Banchero had 24 points and nine assists, Diamon Simpson added double-double 22 points and 23 rebounds, while Vic Manuel had 13 markers for the Aces, which dropped to 4-6.
Meanwhile, Reden Celda scored a go-ahead basket as the Columbian Dyip pulled off a stunning 100-98 victory over Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters to keep its slim playoffs hopes alive.
Both teams were knotted at 98-all when Dyip’s Glenn Khobuntin had a chase down block on Fuel Masters’ RJ Jazul that led to the floater by Celda with 9.3 seconds left in the match.
Celda finished the match with 17 points, while Lester Prosper had double-double 25 points and 21 rebounds for the Dyip (3-7). Richard Howell finished with double-double 35 points and 23 rebounds for the Fuel Masters (4-5)./PN
